NBA

[Stickman]

It seems to me that the NBA has kind of fallen off the map. Just looking at the offical NBA season thread on this website there's only 2 pages. I'm not a basketball fan so I'm not going to bash it for no reason....well just not right now, so what's up with basketball? Does it have to do with the players being allowed to "pack heat?"

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

The quality of the game has declined, David Stern and whoever else can try to do whatever they want but nothing is going to change anything until the game itself improves. Watch a game from the late 80's and compare it a game today and tell me which game is better.

[FakeLaser]

I was just having this discussion earlier today as a matter of fact. I brought it up by saying that basketball players of the late 80's to mid 90's were celebrities. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Dennis Rodman, etc. You don't have that anymore.

[RP]

Need better balls.

[Crippla]

The Celtics suck now.

[BCWWF]

I was just having this discussion earlier today as a matter of fact. I brought it up by saying that basketball players of the late 80's to mid 90's were celebrities. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Dennis Rodman, etc. You don't have that anymore.

Looking back it will always look like that. Fact of the matter is right now Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, those guys are just as good.

The NBA has allowed itself to get pretty fucked up internally, but nobody can do anything about it because they will be called "racist." For example, it was racist when the NBA put an age limit preventing the likes on Ndudi Ebi from getting drafted out of high school, taking up bench space, and then getting cut. Making a dress code was racist too.

FUCK IT, OI will go into details later.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I totally disagree with you BCWWF

NBAs problems have nothing to do with a dress code or any other type of stupid restrictions the front office can put on teams (other than the high school thing, that'll help but not much - the 6th man from the UNC National Championship team got drafted off "potential") The image doesn't matter, is Allen Iverson's tattoos the problem with the NBA? Thats what the dudes in the NBA front office want you think. They want you think that so they ignore the fact the players just aren't as good as they used to be, everyone fell in love with the fast break and the dunk and forgot about the jump shot. Now not mention there is way too many teams in the NBA thus spreading the talent thin, you will never see a line up like this again:

Dennis Johnson (number retired)
Danny Anige
Larry Bird (hall of fame - number retired)
Kevin McHale (hall of fame - number retired)
Robert Parish (hall of fame - number retired)
With Cedric Maxwell coming off the bench (number retired)

or this:

Bryan Scott
Magic Johnson (HOF)
James Worthy (HOF)
Kurt Rambis
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (HOF)
with Michael Cooper coming off the bench

Because there is way too many fucking teams, there isn't enough good players to go around.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I also disagree with the no celebrities thing too, there is plenty of celebrities in today's game.

Another thing is players seem a lot more selfish now-a-days "Is there going to be enough touches between Shaq, Wade and Walker?!?" If there was enough touches between Magic, Kareem and Worthy or Bird, McHale or Parrish there definetly should be enough for Shaq, Wade and Walker (Not even mentioning how much better the Lakers'/Celtics' combination is compared to the Heat's)

So basically the players aren't as good and are more selfish, that combined with more teams which thins out an even thinner talent pool results in a product that isn't nearly as it used to be. Get 'em in collar shirts tho! That'll fix everything

[The Outlaw]

To be honest, I think everyone's going to always think things were better "back in the day" anyway. :-\

[ct2k]

I think sometimes because you've watched a player from the start you don't quite realise how special they are simply because you can't 'look back' on it yet. Allen Iverson is easily one of the best pure scoring machines in the history of the game, I think his reputation and the various incidents have definitely been detrimental to him.

I remember when him and Bryant were both early in their careers it was all about Kobe, Isiah Thomas was brown nosing constantly like "he also speaks 3 languages and got 20000 on his sat's and took Brandy Norwood to his highschool prom, an amazing young man" and Allen Iverson never entered conversation at all despite being rookie of the year, consistently averaging well over 20ppg and showing the kind of scoring ability that few players have ever had.

Kobe was also instantly a fan favourite, I remember even hearing how he was gonna win rookie of the year that year and I was just like WTF so he did a cool dunk so f'n what Marbury and Iverson are tearing it up goddamnit:rant:

[The Outlaw]

Then that whole rape thing happened...kinda ended all that...

[ct2k]

Zeke would have your ass on a platter for DARING to slander the great one

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

To be honest, I think everyone's going to always think things were better "back in the day" anyway. :-\
Don't agree with that at all, atleast for me anyway. Basketball is the only sport that I have this feeling about.

The image thing on Allen Iverson is a crock of shit, yeah I agree, you got Jason Kidd beating his wife but now he is a saint since he blows kisses to his big headed son. I don't think the image thing is an issue though, it doesn't effect the on the court play. I really think if they elminated some teams the play would get so much better. Just think if eliminated 2 teams, lets say the Bobcats (why are they even a team in the first place? I have no idea) and Toronto. You'd have Emeka Okafor, Sean May, Raymond Felton, Gerald Wallace, T.J. Ford, Morris Peterson and a lot others added depth to already good teams. The talent pool is way too thin due to all the teams.

[McLegend]

Player are def more athletic now then they ever were, but now it's just all dunking and one-on-one playing. Shooting is horrible. Like in 1983 the sixers had 7 guys who shot over 50% on their team, and now there is barely seven guys in the league who shoot 50%. It's pathetic.

I only really care about the NBA when Le Bron is on or it is the playoffs other then that I could care less about the NBA.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Yeah I really hate how the "offensive sets" are clear out and let this guy one on one.

[The Outlaw]

The downfall of the NBA : And1.

I dunno Stima, I wasn't calling you out on it or anything. I've heard many people say "Back in the day Baseball/basketball/football/etc. was so much better."

[Gertner]

Jazz in 07

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

The downfall of the NBA : And1.

I dunno Stima, I wasn't calling you out on it or anything. I've heard many people say "Back in the day Baseball/basketball/football/etc. was so much better."
Yeah I was just saying I don't agree.

And 1 definetly is hurting the game though, especially on the lower levels, I see a 6th grader do a ridiculous cross over and be his man off the dribble then miss an open lay up :|. That phase seems to kinda be dying down though.

[Stickman]

I do think the problem is the game is boring. Rebound run the court shoot, rebound go the other way shoot, basket, outlet shoot a three pointer, rebound, layup, outlet, run the court shoot. And so on. So yeah if offense was re introduced we could have a good game.

I hate how the last minute takes half an hour.

Oh, and Steve Nash is Canadian so lets not market a very enjoyable talented player.

[Kris P Lettus]

Yall saying there are no celebrities is ridiculous.. That is the biggest problem today.. Like last year, I remember around Christmas, the Pistons were playing like the Spurs.. Two great teams who would both be in the playoffs.. Instead of advertising that potiential playoff game, they talked about Shaq vs Kobe and even showed that game instead.. All because of TWO PLAYERS.. It's not a team sports anymore.. Even when you're talking about the Bulls of back in the day, you don't just talk about Jordan.. They were a great TEAM, that MJ added too.. They need to get back more on the whole team as opposed to a star player.. I'm not gonna tune into a 3+ hour game to watch ONE guy..

[Stickman]

I think Kris P is right to an extent but it used to be Bird vs Magic. So the celebrities thing has always been there. It should be about the teams but it's not. If they find a way to reintroduce that things could pick up.

Here's a wild idea, get RID of the three point line.

[Kris P Lettus]

Fuck that..

I'm saying, why advertise Kobe vs. Shaq, when you have to potitial playoff teams facing off at the same time??

If the Colts are playing the Patriots, they wouldn't be showing the the Cardinals vs. the Titans just because of Lienart and Young...

[Stickman]

If the Colts are playing the Patriots it's automatically Manning vs Brady. Oddly enough they never ever come in contact with each other throughout the course of the game and the other does not even affect the other guy.

[Triple A]

The games are just not as exciting, yeah. Also, the Knicks suck balls so at least here in New York, not a lot of people talk about basketball. Back during the Ewing era, it was so great to be a Knicks fan and I loved basketball so much. It was always my favorite sport, easily. Now, I still follow it but yeah.

[Triple A]

Also, I think the fact that basketball is real "ghetto" definitely has something to do with it. White people can't relate to basketball as much as they can baseball, hockey or football these days. Basketball is easily way more popular in urban areas. It always has been kinda "ghetto" but it is obviously way more these days.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I think that's why Stern is trying to "fix the image" which is all good and all but I don't care about the game being "more ghetto" or whatever.

LeBron James is being marketed great and I am still kinda "meh" about the up coming season. I don't think that has any relation to the Celts not being so hat cuz I was a huge fan back during like pre-98

[ct2k]

Basketball was easily my favourite sport from aged about 8-14/15, was a Knicks obsessive, then I discovered beer and the tv coverage on normal tv here basically dried up completely for 4 years. I don't know shit anymore, would like to get back into it, tempted to stay up for Heat/Bulls tonight but I need an early start tomorrow so I dunno :-\

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I'm not gonna lie, the Telfair trade has gotten me interested in the C's this year tho

I'll definetly watch most of their games, but I got a feeling Telfair and Pierce are gonna clash