99.9% of the posters on this board will still watch the NBA if LeBron decided to leave basketball. That 0.01%? The poster above. I root for the name on the front and not the back. Basketball never dies.
NBA Revenues are over 30% higher than the Jordan era. Sport is watched in more countries now than ever.
But Jordan triggered that entire process. Jordan is still more well-known than any current player now or past. The NBA is a star-driven league. NBA Revenues are higher b/c of higher ticket prices, more teams, inflation, better marketing teams... But purely in America, the NBA was and never been as popular as when Michael Jordan play.
Nice, so take out the top 5 superstars out of the NBA and the rest is full of Kwame Browns. Delusional...
Jordan was a great player, some people think maybe the greatest. But come on, before Jordan you had Wilt, and Russell, and Kareem, and Bird, and Magic. And now we have Kobe, and Howard, and Carmello, and Scola. I really think Wilt vs Russell and Bird vs Magic did as much for the NBA as anything Jordan ever did.
The reason I name MJ is b/c some posters on here think the superstars in this league are "replaceable," which is completely absurd. Like if you took Michael Jordan in his prime out of the NBA and the NBA would prosper like it did in the mid-90s? No freakin' way. Outside of the Scola name dropping, you listed some of the most well-known stars in NBA history. And I do agree with you that those guys did a lot FOR the NBA, but more so with Jordan. The superstars make the NBA. If you take out the top 5 superstars in the NBA, the NBA would lose a lot of its fanbase. You saw the huge drop in NBA ratings when Michael Jordan left the NBA briefly for baseball, and when he retired from the Bulls the second time. Hell, I wouldn't have become a huge fan of the Rockets or follow them had I not seen Hakeem on TV (I started really watching basketball in 93). The same thing applies to many young fans right now and how they got into the NBA, b/c of a Kobe or a Durant or a Rose or a Wade. Just like many fans got into the game because of a Jordan or a Magic or a Bird or Dr. J. There's a reason the Rockets haven't sold out a lot of home games. We don't have a star that attracts the general Rocket fanbase. And there's a reason the Clippers sell out their games, when they still are mediocre.
Speak for yourself. I would still watch the NBA, I'm not a bandwagon superstar hopping fan like yourself. True NBA fan standing by.
You do know many people started to follow the Rockets b/c of a Hakeem Olajuwon right? But why am I discussing this with you? You don't know how the general NBA fanbase operates. Let the Rockets draft Blake Griffin and see a huge spike in attendance ASAP. You'll see the Toyota Center full, something you haven't seen in the past years.
If you take the top 5 superstars out of the NBA, the league would lose fans only based on the fact that the top 5 superstars get the most publicity, attention and media. Jordan received more media attention and publicity than everyone else. He was a tool the league used to expand their fanbase. In the same way that if the top 5 superstars in the NBA were gone, the next top 5 players will receive just as much media attention, publicity and hype as the initial top 5. Lebron James isn't mainly popular because of his skills, he is popular because the league showcase and advertise his skills. Top 5 superstars in the NBA gone? No problem, they'll just make Blake Griffin the next poster boy and go on from there.
So you lose Lebron/Wade/Kobe/Durant/Howard and you replace them with Blake Griffin and move on from there? Well, hopefully Stern doesn't hire you as its PR guy to market the NBA. You actually have to be GOOD in order to be marketed. I agree Blake Griffin would fit that category. But who else? There is a reason the NBA went 10+ years post the Michael Jordan era struggling in ratings and trying to break 20 million viewers. If it is SO EASY to just replace a top star player with the next one, then the NBA would have never a problem gaining viewership would they?
Of course the superstars are replaceable. Sure, there might be a temporary dip in popularity, but new stars are drafted every year. Think of all the players who have entered the league in the past 5 years: Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, and Kevin Durant. And those draft classes were relatively thin. The point is, even if you take away the top 5 superstars, the league will endure simply due to the inflow of new talent. In 15 years, Lebron, Wade, Dwight, Paul, etc... will all be gone. But the league will still be there and it will still have a huge fanbase.
Stern hiring me as a PR guy has nothing to do with the league surviving after losing the top 5 superstars. Next time you make an insult at least have some logical connection to it. Who else after Griffin? Wall? Rose (who had one of the most votes in the all-star)? Amare? All of these guys would receive the same amount of publicity as the top 5 superstars if the initial top 5 superstars were gone. And Jordan is different, he is considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. The Jordan era is the peak point of the league, so obviously it would drop once Jordan is gone. Yes the league took a dip in viewers, but there is a reason the viewer count is slowly increasing again. Because the league acquires new talent.
Oh, and to add to that, the lockout contributed to the fall in viewers more so than the loss of stars themselves.
FoxSports.com reported that their was some tension between Derek Fisher and Billy Hunter and that Fisher was going behind Hunter's back and negotiating the 50/50 BRI split with Stern. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/...Billy-Hunter-players-union-not-pleased-102811 Derek Fisher responded to this report in an email sent to all NBA players. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7176232/text-derek-fisher-letter-nba-players
The Rockets were supposed to play the Jazz I miss the NBA so much I miss even playing the Jazz...well especially the Jazz. Now one of those games have been taken off the schedule. Shame.
I'm going to have A_3PO respond to you Yes, the viewer count is slowly increasing again after what? 12 years? That's a long time period there b/t "marketable" star players, wouldn't you say? It's NOT EASY to replace the superstars in this league. You will need to wait years and years before another once-in-a-generation player comes along again (ala a Griffin or a Rose) before you can garner in new viewers, and even then that's not a full guarantee. We've had Lebron/Kobe/Wade in the league together for 7-8 years now, and the ratings were never as high as last year. A major factor was the controversy of how Lebron went to Miami also. So MANY different factors came into play for the surge in NBA ratings last year. 12 year dip in popularity is "temporary" to you? Of course the league will still be here. It was still here when the NBA had record low ratings. The NHL is still here right? Does it mean the NHL is relevant in America? Hell, the WNBA is still here.
