I can't stand the "dumbing down" of mainstream basketball today

[treadster]

yeah, but they also need that superstar talk to gain attention. no one want's to hear small market team or player on regular basis, they need that attention to keep them business alive.

[Dro]

Good thread...I agree with the OP...

[Dro]

yeah, but they also need that superstar talk to gain attention. no CASUAL FAN want's to hear small market team or player on regular basis, they need that attention to keep them business alive.

Fixed...TRUE basketball fans enjoy good basketball and enjoy hearing about who is playing good basketball, regardless of what city its in...

[Anaximandro1]

The NBA decision to specifically market individual players instead of teams; exploiting these social trends, has brought us here.

This

The NBA is a hype machine designed to lure casual fans.

I love catching Spurs games, that teams offense keeps everyone moving well without the ball

I'm guessing you haven't watched a Spurs game since Feb

the Spurs are playing truly terrible basketball right now

[JohnnySic]

I agree with the OP. The was the NBA is covered and presented is an embarassement. It really is little better than pro wrestling. Nothing wrong with wrestling; at least they're open about the fact that its all a show.

Solution?

- Dont watch ESPN
- Dont talk shop with casual fans

Find knowledgeable fans, and talk with them. The internet makes this easy.

[andremiller07]

Find knowledgeable fans, and talk with them. The internet makes this easy.

Yeah completely agree with this great point even tho at times it seems like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Even tho the most internet sites are filled with trolls/idiots if you use your ignore tool properly its really not that bad and there are a number of people on here who I always check in to see what there two cents is on a matter.

[ILLsmak]

Rick Kamla: Early third quarter, Brandon Jennings scooping inside for two...

Dennis Scott: HO! B-Jenn-Jenn slicin' inside for the scoop job!

Brent Barry: Yeah, Jennings did a great job of sliding inside there and you saw that with the scoop.

WHY!?!?!?!

haha. It's general stupidity in the human race, tho... everything is dumbed down. I don't think many people understand stuff. I was reading this:

http://www.evolveidea.com/creativity...%20knowing.php

It seems like more and more people are not even on the 2nd level. They just hear and say "it must be true because I heard it." So many people say things that are just wrong or that may be right, but the reason why they think it's right (that is, the argument they use the fact to prove) is wrong.

I think of commentary as comedy. I don't look for insight.

-Smak

[K Xerxes]

The best teams always win championships, not the best players. The best players can help make their team better, but on a bad team, they have no shot. And, by team, I also mean the coaching, which is arguably the most underappreciated aspect of basketball. I value a play to get a role player an open shot at the end of the game rather than a contested jumpshot by a superstar. Always. Doesn't work always, but works out better in the long run.

[I.R.Beast]

The recycled, tired cliches, counter-arguments, and arbitrary stats are what get me most. I blame ESPN primarily for lowering the intelligence of basketball followers by pushing their TV "analysts", bias web content, and contrived first take debates.

Examples of eye-rolling commentary:
"makes players around him better"
"replace player x with player y and the team is better/worse"
"team is better without star player x"

Too many variables to make simple-minded statements and pass them off as credible.

I am with you 100% on this one bro. They do it all without using any context.

[MtMutombo]

D League now live-streams its games on youtube.

With online streaming sites like VIP BOX and live-stream youtube, maybe its possible (or near possible) to cover live games, yourselves... There's alot of potential in that.
Would also set a fire under ESPN's legal team's a$$ but you cant take on the internet.

"Never get involved in a land war IN ASIA"

[rlee]

Cavaliers, you are so right. Listening to all the home market analysts on League Pass this year, it was clear that there only a very few that call the game the right way. Matt Guokas (Orlando) stands out. Ditto Fratello (Nets).
Only a few others: the best of the rest are probably Jack Armstrong (Toronto)and Fiorentino (Miami). Scott Hastings (Denver) has improved a lot over the years and now does a good job. Malik Rose (6ers): not bad. I wonder what you think of the Cavs' Austin Carr - to me, he never seems to say anything particularly insightful. Here in Sacramento, Jerry Reynolds really "dumbs it down".

[secund2nun]

My biggest problem is when the NBA artificially creates a superstar like Rose or Harden through undeserved hype in order to increase ratings to the casual fan. That is the worst of the worst. They will always ignore "boring" defense, rebounding, and big men and give all of the success to flashy perimeter players no matter how inefficient they are.

The dumbing down can be annoying as well.

[michaelray]

ESPN, NBAtv, TNT. All of it.

NBA analysis today is all about hero-name dropping. "Can Kobe/Lebron/Durant pull out this win" Did "Kobe/Lebron/Durant" do something athletic tonight.

Nobody talks about actual basketball on tv. Nobody talks about great on-the-floor teamball and playmaking.

Its just a totally different Era.

Its a transition from "Team Basketball Age" to "Hero ball Age".

And its from a "two-point league" to a "three-point league".

Also look at the way they dribble, until the 80s they're not allowed to palm/carry/travel like the stars did now. It starts with MJ (dribble from side of the ball to change direction) and MJ did get away a bit, But today's player benefit a lot more.

The rules are changed to open up the middle, streetball-type play are encouraged to bring more entertainment.1-on-1,not 5-on-5,is what they want to transfer.

The emphasis of the league is once on "competitiveness", now on "business".

[rlee]

Michaelray: hand on the side of the ball is not palming/carrying. Per the NBA rules, the hand must be under the ball, bringing the dribble to a pause. http://www.nba.com/videorulebook/category.html?cid=77

[BlazersDozen]

Its the same way with baseball except MLB Network has some great analyst who break down everything. Harold Reynolds is dat dude!