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

[Goldrush25]

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. It's literally all about creating stories about _____ star player willing their team to victory against ______ star player on the opposing team and above the rim highlights. It's all smoke and mirrors and no meat and potatoes. I love watching older Lakers games with Chick Hearn or games where Bill Russell is doing color commentating because they actually add insight to plays that are developing and they didn't just glorify the stars. I do not like the way the game is presented today, it is presented for casual mainstream fans who just want a hero not actual sport/basketball fans who want to see and understand a good game.

That's life in the US. Everything and anything that makes money is produced for mass consumption. Goes for food, entertainment, everything. You have to do your own searching for hardcore/old school basketball coverage. That stuff doesn't get the ratings that would justify broadcasting it. It's just the way it is.

[Rake2204]

I don't care that we have shows like ESPN first take, but I do care that we DON'T have some sort of channel or program we can turn too to get actual basketball insight presented too us today.

I feel your pain. Though, I do care that shows like First Take and Sportscenter are the way they are. I used to be able to count on Sportscenter to provide an informational and succinct wrap up of all that day's sporting news and events. Now it is a monster largely made up of your aforementioned hero talk, rumors, speculations, and arguments (with an occasional 30 second Lakers highlight mixed in somewhere).

I'm not necessarily looking for Basketball 101 shows (though I wouldn't mind having one out there). I'd just like to be able to turn on ESPN and NBATV and not immediately feel frustrated with the nature with which they attempt to shove mindless drivel down our throats. Why can't there just be basketball highlights with the host leading the narrative and analysts providing actual analysis? Why does it always have to go like this:

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!?!?!?!

[Heavincent]

You guys should check out the bballbreakdown youtube channel if you want more x's and o's talk http://www.youtube.com/user/bballbreakdown/videos

[CavaliersFTW]

You guys should check out the bballbreakdown youtube channel if you want more x's and o's talk http://www.youtube.com/user/bballbreakdown/videos

I know I've been a subscriber of his since almost the beginning, but see the problem is he isn't getting paid on TV to offer his well-informed opinion and share his knowledge with widespread fans. Skip Bayless and SAS are the "experts" that most fans are forced to see. Guys like Coach Nick need MUCH MORE exposure in the mainstream (because currently he and others who have his kind of knowledge get ZERO exposure - or in the case of former professioanls - aren't being greenlit to offer their legitimate knowledge of the game because it doesn't fit the script). Guys/shows like SAS/Skip on First Take need much LESS exposure and air-time. They need to at least share airtime with some legitimate shows. Youtube isn't good enough for a guy like Coach Nick.

[Leftimage]

I know I've been a subscriber of his since almost the beginning, but see the problem is he isn't getting paid on TV to offer his well-informed opinion and share his knowledge with widespread fans. Skip Bayless and SAS are the "experts" that most fans are forced to see. Guys like Coach Nick need MUCH MORE exposure in the mainstream (because currently he and others who have his kind of knowledge get ZERO exposure - or in the case of former professioanls - aren't being greenlit to offer their legitimate knowledge of the game because it doesn't fit the script). Guys/shows like SAS/Skip on First Take need much LESS exposure and air-time. They need to at least share airtime with some legitimate shows. Youtube isn't good enough for a guy like Coach Nick.

Like you, I prefer more in-depth and less sensationalized analysis than what the mainstream has to offer. But this is the case in any medium. Fact is, a lion's share of nba viewers are casual fans. They don't want the x's and o's, they want the Oh's and Ah's, and that is perfectly reasonable...

Gotta dig a little deeper for the good stuff. This has always been true.

[crisoner]

LMAO

Man I'm starting to become that way as well. lol

[CavaliersFTW]

Like you, I prefer more in-depth and less sensationalized analysis than what the mainstream has to offer. But this is the case in any medium. Fact is, a lion's share of nba viewers are casual fans. They don't want the x's and o's, they want the Oh's and Ah's, and that is perfectly reasonable...

Gotta dig a little deeper for the good stuff. This has always been true.

Again though, it hasn't always been like this, and we shouldn't have to settle for it either. In fact literally the opposite was true 40+ years ago. The "ooh's and ah's" plays were ones that used to be hard to come by in coverage about the league and the intellectual ones were the norm. I've been skimming through basketball videos from every decade all day today and I'm noticing the 1980's is when content started getting over simplified and hero-fied. Now into the '10's it's literally flip flopped and there is literally nothing intellectual presented on tv about the game anymore. Surely there should be some broadcasted programming oriented to fans with higher IQ's. Heck I even remember a few years ago I used to enjoy a few of Kevin McHales breakdowns. But he's gone and replaced with Shaq who's just there for more drama. There's nothing to watch on tv unless you want a good laugh, or catch the actual games. If you need a recap or would like to learn some more insight about the game or some teams your SOL.

[ThaRegul8r]

Again though, it hasn't always been like this, and we shouldn't have to settle for it either. In fact literally the opposite was true 40+ years ago. The "ooh's and ah's" plays were ones that used to be hard to come by in coverage about the league and the intellectual ones were the norm. I've been skimming through basketball videos from every decade all day today and I'm noticing the 1980's is when content started getting over simplified and hero-fied. Now into the '10's it's literally flip flopped and there is literally nothing intellectual presented on tv about the game anymore. Surely there should be some broadcasted programming oriented to fans with higher IQ's.

Unfortunately, this is true of visual media in general. The belief is that in order to achieve mass appeal, one must "aim low." High IQ fans are not who they're targeting, as there aren't enough of them for them to concern themselves with. As Leftimage said, the lion's share of NBA fans are the casual viewers, so they're who it's geared for. Mass appeal is the goal, hence the simplism and sensationalism, since that's what "most people" want to see.

[diamenz]

remember back in the eighties when the play by play announcing was so good, you could look away from the tv and still be painted a perfect picture? it was like listening to the radio so to speak.

[2LeTTeRS]

You would think that with all the networks that show sports now that someone would get back to the basics and start covering sports the way they deserve to be covered.

[Amar'e_Juwanna]

A little OT...

When it comes to local media coverage of NBA, I feel like smaller market teams, those which usually do not have the "heroes" that mainstream media talks about the most, have a problem which is different but which springs from a similar place... Homerism.

watching league pass, and being a knicks (as well as mets) fan, I am disgusted by the amount of homerism displayed by professional commentators. Is it really too hard to allot any, ANY, respect to the opposition? obviously i'm spoiled by having walt clyde frazier and mike breen, who are two of the best in the game, but its just ridiculous. If i had more that 100 posts or whatever the number is, I would make a thread about it. I'd probably mention Tommy Heinsohn in the OP.

Clyde was the reason for this post as he is constantly dropping not only classic clyde-isms, which I understand are not to everyone's taste, but also basic bball knowledge and strategy. Along with his extensive vocabulary, delightful vocal tone, and aforementioned unbiased (especially for a former Knick) position, this is why I place him above most other NBA color announcers. Hubie and Van Gundy are up there too for me, so its not like I have a NY bias or anything...

[La Frescobaldi]

[ I honestly didn't know coaching was that important until last year with the Knicks. The difference between Woodson and pringles is like the sky and the earth. That is when I started to admire good coaching and what makes coaches like Pop and Phil so effective.

I have an old friend that I've been trying to get on ISH for a couple years..... all he follows is coaches. He has gotten autographs of assistant coaches from like 1978 Bucks or the 90s Griz........ guys nobody ever heard of, he claims how they incremently shifted the game over the years, tiny little improvements in defense that came from guys like Brad Greenberg on the '80s Knicks. Whoever heard of him? Rudy says he came up with a defensive rotation that is used all over the country.... don't ask me or Cliff Ray.... to me he's the center on the 75 Warriors, right? but he's been coaching in the League for aeons and lotta players love the guy to death. Or Jimmy Cleamons.... P Jax always showered the love on that guy for the way he got players to go to the wall for the team... dude coached the Bulls and did okay.... coached the Lakers and did okay....
yeah there's a lot to that, no question

[Maniak]

thats because the nba revolves around kobe, lebron, durant, etc. everyone else is irrelevant

the game sucks pretty badly, to be honest.

as long as "superstars" get superior treatment the nba will always be shitty unless you like really non-fundamental and solid basketball and/or are dumb.

[MARLO]

The evolution of twenty-four hour sports media coverage and technology combined with celebrity worship has brought us here.
The NBA decision to specifically market individual players instead of teams; exploiting these social trends, has brought us here.
What we have now is a 24/7 media conglomerate(ESPN) that exploits any tidbit of sports news in an all consuming, unsatiable thirst. It gleefully feeds into the emotions of sports fans with overdramatic rise-and-fall accounts of their built-up hero's and martyrs, creating news mutants along the way, such as Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin.
What we have is basketball in an ADHD age, where most people just watch the game recap and and whatever 2 minute blurb is being shouted by a sportcenter talking head. The actual fans come to places like this. You ever get into a good basketball discussion on the street or in a bar with a knowledgable person?
It doesn't happen often..
Most "fans" will usually just recite some sportcenter feel-good crap about whichever superstar is currently being hyped.

[luckylucy]

You guys should check out the bballbreakdown youtube channel if you want more x's and o's talk http://www.youtube.com/user/bballbreakdown/videos

I subscribed to that channel some years ago, I don't know if you guys know of another channel like this, it would be great.