I cant watch the NBA anymore.. the product right now is HORRIBLE?

NBA refereeing has always sucked and is only slightly above EURO soccer officiating (although after the MLB playoffs I may have to add Baseball umpires to this list as well).

Saying that, the best way to get around this issue is to (re)develop the mid range jump shot. Doing so will increase spacing. No point in driving to the basket to get mauled. Harden used to be a consistent mid range shooter; remember 2014-15? Morey and his merry band of stat dorks ruined him and many other players with then threes/layups/FTs method. Once FTs are no longer a viable option, layups are eliminated due to fouls, and threes are better defended, not sure what is left in that equation.

With that said, I would not get to used to this. The ratings, star players/NBAPA and networks will demand that these rules be changed shortly, if not mid season then as of next year.

Either that, or, expect an increasing number of physical altercations between players, one or two of which will definitely escalate. You already had the incident involving Jokic. The Morris bros and the Heat will not forget that, and Pat Riley will demand that they don’t. Remember the 1985 finals? Kurt Rambis decking Kevin McHale on a fast break turned that series around. He did that because Riley demanded him to do it or he would bench him. That impetus of that was from a tough foul in the 1984 finals.

You already have Jokic’s brothers talking noise.

Malice at the Palace part 2.

 

Side note: I think baseball should just get rid of umpiring at the plate. Today's technology shows exactly where the ball crosses the plane inside or outside the strike zone. There's no need for on the spot human judgment. It's embarrassing when every fan knows if it was a strike or not when the umpire gets it wrong.

 

Thats why I just have the games in the background.

 

where have you been? it's been bad for years.

 

I co-sign on that.

 

There are a couple youtube videos of the robo ump calling strikes that are clearly not. The technology needs some slight refinement. Then you are correct, they should be used

 

One has to ask themselves what the NBA has to gain from this. Its no secret that the leagues most popular players year in and year out are guards. Everyone loves star guards on two stacked super teams going at it. Its why Rockets-Warriors WCF in 2018 was the most viewed non-finals series of all time. Guards drive the playstyles of the future, you really think Trae Young is a top-5 pick in the draft without Stephen Curry? Is Steph Curry a top 7 pick without Steve Nash? Does anyone even attempt a step-back 3 without James Harden? What's more inspiring to a young kid watching at home, watching Chris Paul bend the game to his will at the average height for a black american (5'11" w/o shoes)? Or watching Giannis take 500 steps to the rim as he bulldozes the entire team?

To this day, the NBA hasn't regained the finals ratings it got under Jordan, but a big reason for this was the legalization of zone defenses that made guard play significantly harder. Look at the best players from 1999 to 2007, Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, and Nowitzki. Only one of those guys had any charisma (a required trait to become nationally beloved as a big man, Embiid's got it today), and he was the least identifiable of the group. When guards emerged as the top dogs of the league, with guys like Nash, Paul, Bryant, Rose, and Iverson before them, combined with LeBron becoming the best player AND antagonist of the league, ratings went up once more.

Currently, the three best players in the game (arguably), are Giannis, Jokic, and Embiid. Three foreigners, three bigs, and only one with any charisma. People like rooting for men they can identify with, even if those guys possess supernatural reflexes, touch, and quickness. Iverson is remembered for all history for this, even though he wasn't anywhere close to the best point guard of his decade (that honor goes to Chauncey Billups). Of all the leagues to forget this, I'm surprised its the NBA after a decade of rising ratings prior to the 'Rona madness.

 

I can understand not having Thursday game during the NFL season, because they would be a ratings bloodbath.

 

Why do you think that is? Is it because you don't think there are any interesting stories to sell anymore? Does everyone simply hate LeBron? Is it political in nature? The fact that 4 of the top 6-8 players in the league are foreigners?

Comparing to baseball, I'll give you that the Astros and Dodgers being the two most hated teams in the nation making the world series every year makes for much better storylines. The league is even less American than the NBA, with half of the players coming from overseas, mostly the Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations. Both sports are known for their horrendous umpiring that decides games (Soler would have struck out in the AB he hit a HR off of Garcia if the strike zone were fair, but we know better).

Is it that baseball is inherently more appealing to the growing Hispanic population compared to the Black population that's hovered around 1/8th of the population for the last 200 years?

 

I see that, both the NBA and MLB are taking their primary sources of talent, black and white americans respectively, as granted. AAU is a glorified track meet where you see abominations of jumpshots like Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball slip through the cracks and never get fixed because they could already out athlete everyone else. MLB on the other hand has done great jobs in subsidizing the game abroad and in the ghettos as of late, but still expects an ever shrinking middle class to shoulder the costs of travel ball, even as the league grows richer and rising costs of living push more and more kids out of youth baseball.

 

They lost me for good in Game 6/7 of the 2018 Western Conference Final. (see my signature)

Haven't watched an NBA game this year.

 

Harden had 39 points last night, NBA product is back to status: watchable

 

TNT games has always been Tuesday and Thursdays.

 

Harden just pouring in the free throws tonight, OP must be thrilled

 

THIS
but then a again they dissappeared next year in games 5 and 6 especially in closing quarters... still could of turned things around if they played just a little bit better and smarter

 

Anyone remember when the NBA was in the house on “Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday”?