NBA ratings tank to start the season.

[pdxKingsFan]

The inverse would certainly save more time. Obviously, you'd still have to have commercial breaks, though, so I don't think it's a very viable option.

Yeah although they could either go to a soccer style model and just run larger commercial blocks at the end of every quarter or do scheduled tv timeouts only.

I will say there is a lot to be said for the soccer model's predictability as well as the ability to neatly package a broadcast into a two hour space. NBA will always have the threat of overtime but you have to figure people don't actually complain that a nail biter is running too long.

I suppose other alternatives would be only using these "quickening" rules for the regular season. Or weekday evening games, though that seems awfully arbitrary.

 

[Iced Espresso]

I will say the last couple of minutes with reviews + time outs etc, the end of games sometimes seems like it takes an eternity.

But I'd be fine if each team got a 20 second per half.

 

[Livinthedream]

I'd say even this is a little simplistic. It's not merely that it's become "old hat," it's that it's become too ubiquitous. Like, it was cool, when it was only one or two teams doing it. Now, it's closer to twenty-five, and the NBA is trying to legislate the teams that dare to play differently out of the league. Combine that with lazy coaches, and general managers who lack imagination, and we get a stale league.

Agreed. Some may have forgotten and some may be too young to know that there were always teams in the league that played uptempo and scored a lot of points. Just not every team did it or had the same philosophy. Now, most teams play with the same philosophy and on top of that, draft the same type of player. I have a hard time watching the Celtics when 4 out of 5 players on the court are the same height and have the same skillset.

Analytics played a role in stagnation of the game. Look at a few numbers, discover that SF is the most versatile player and that 3pts are worth more than 2 and somehow it's a new NBA. Well everyone already knew that, but coaches were trying to find creative ways to win ball games based on their players strengths. I'd use the Kings as an example of how those analytics generalizations are a little overblown. We all know for years Kings fans complained about pace being our weakness. The numbers say pace was a key to improved play. Last year Kings had pace. This year, the Kings are almost dead last in pace. The team is no worse off with their slow pace as far as wins and losses. Coaches are playing to the players strengths.

Also blame the NBA for out thinking themselves and assuming more points and easier scoring will equal more viewers. Changed too many rules to favor the offensive player and made talented SF players almost unguardable.

 

[Joshoua]

You know what? I think I might just be enough of a junkie to watch some aquatic basketball.

Probably less flopping the the nba

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Dunking would take on an entirely new context, though.

 

[Sactown ExPat]

I was listening to the Rusillo podcast recently, and he mentioned that Embiid is currently leading the league with an average of 10 post touches/possessions per game. Five years ago the leader was Al Jefferson with 20 per game. So, in five years, it would seem that average post possessions have been cut in half--and that's for teams with great big men (Embiid probably being the best big man). That's too much of a monoculture within the league, and too drastic a change. It makes gameplay uninteresting. Styles make fights, and there is currently only one style. It becomes boring and predictable.

And, the paint is wide open right now because no one has to defend it. A real big man could feast in this era if they were surrounded by shooters. Now, the caveat is that they would need to be a really good passer, because the double would be coming quickly once they got rolling. But, guys like Webber, Timmy, Hakeem, young Shaq would just destroy the league right now. Any big who could score in the post, pass, and hold up in the P&R on defense would just dominate. Hakeem would be insane in this era, and he was already a top 5 player in my lifetime from his own era. I'm crossing my fingers that one particular young big man from last year's draft can develop into that player (and I think he can).

Anyway, you need post passers/scorers to get the real exquisite backdoor cuts and motion offenses of yesteryear, and I'm hoping we can return to some of those teams in the near future.

 

[Tetsujin]

I was listening to the Rusillo podcast recently, and he mentioned that Embiid is currently leading the league with an average of 10 post touches/possessions per game. Five years ago the leader was Al Jefferson with 20 per game. So, in five years, it would seem that average post possessions have been cut in half--and that's for teams with great big men (Embiid probably being the best big man). That's too much of a monoculture within the league, and too drastic a change. It makes gameplay uninteresting. Styles make fights, and there is currently only one style. It becomes boring and predictable.

And, the paint is wide open right now because no one has to defend it. A real big man could feast in this era if they were surrounded by shooters. Now, the caveat is that they would need to be a really good passer, because the double would be coming quickly once they got rolling. But, guys like Webber, Timmy, Hakeem, young Shaq would just destroy the league right now. Any big who could score in the post, pass, and hold up in the P&R on defense would just dominate. Hakeem would be insane in this era, and he was already a top 5 player in my lifetime from his own era. I'm crossing my fingers that one particular young big man from last year's draft can develop into that player (and I think he can).

Anyway, you need post passers/scorers to get the real exquisite backdoor cuts and motion offenses of yesteryear, and I'm hoping we can return to some of those teams in the near future.

*coughcough* Marvin Bagley

 

[Kingz19]

I think the last decade...since Pop first sat all his best players in a nationally televised clash with the big three Miami Heat it’s been beat into the heads of fans, especially casual fans that the regular season is too long and doesn’t matter. Which is why the league is brainstorming new ways to make the season interesting to everybody outside 3-4 markets with mid season tourneys and all that.

It might eventually suffer the same way regular season MLB does in regards to viewership and attendance. If a team sucks, they aren’t worth watching and if the team is great, wake me up when the playoffs start.

Also, the NBA is by far the most predictable of the big leagues and the only thing that bucks it’s predictability is injury which is no fun...like last season Toronto would’ve had no shot against a healthy Warriors team. They barely escaped when it was basically down to Curry. That gets old and it eventually culminates into lack of interest though people will claim that these ratings are proof that parity is bad for the NBA and that dynasty after dynasty are needed

I’ll also go ahead and blame Nike and the whole road uniform at home garbage. New uniforms and color schemes that have nothing to do with the history or identity of a franchise. I saw New Orleans wearing what looked like Denver Nuggets throwbacks. It’s not the reason but it’s not helping!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

... I’ll also go ahead and blame Nike and the whole road uniform at home garbage. New uniforms and color schemes that have nothing to do with the history or identity of a franchise. I saw New Orleans wearing what looked like Denver Nuggets throwbacks. It’s not the reason but it’s not helping!

Welp... that's a take, alright.

 

[ESP47]

Agreed. Some may have forgotten and some may be too young to know that there were always teams in the league that played uptempo and scored a lot of points. Just not every team did it or had the same philosophy. Now, most teams play with the same philosophy and on top of that, draft the same type of player. I have a hard time watching the Celtics when 4 out of 5 players on the court are the same height and have the same skillset.

Analytics played a role in stagnation of the game. Look at a few numbers, discover that SF is the most versatile player and that 3pts are worth more than 2 and somehow it's a new NBA. Well everyone already knew that, but coaches were trying to find creative ways to win ball games based on their players strengths. I'd use the Kings as an example of how those analytics generalizations are a little overblown. We all know for years Kings fans complained about pace being our weakness. The numbers say pace was a key to improved play. Last year Kings had pace. This year, the Kings are almost dead last in pace. The team is no worse off with their slow pace as far as wins and losses. Coaches are playing to the players strengths.

Also blame the NBA for out thinking themselves and assuming more points and easier scoring will equal more viewers. Changed too many rules to favor the offensive player and made talented SF players almost unguardable.

Most sports have gone this route. Analytics have hurt baseball quite a bit. Everything is either a walk, strikeout or home run. The NFL has made it increasingly more and more difficult to play defense. The NFL and NBA have given a ton of power to the referees and it not only affects the outcome of games but it makes it more difficult to watch as a fan.

I have no problem with a James Harden step back 3. I think it's a thing of beauty. What I have a problem with his allowing him to intentionally just run into defenders and get to the line 20 times a game on what should be a handful of offensive fouls. Giannis does it and Luka is following in their footsteps. Trips to the foul line should be earned by beating your opponent and forcing him to decide to either foul you or give up the bucket. They shouldn't be earned by literally searching for a body to run into on your way to the basket. That's all these guys do. They bull rush you and then react as if their being fouled, when in reality it's them creating 95% of the contact. It's part basketball, part acting.

The top 3 scorers in the game are all scoring 30PPG or more and they just so happen to lead the league in free throws attempted as well. The NBA loves to build stars so they can build their brand but they're forgetting that it doesn't take 30PPG to build a star. Especially when it's at the cost of slowing the game down so we can basically watch these guys shoot as many free throws individually as a team would normally average for an entire game.

 

[Gguod]

NBA is probably never going back to shooting contested post hooks and mid range jumpers. Thats because mathematically its not smart and I cant think of many rule changes that would make those shots smart. Mid range jumper has always been inefficent shot because the succes rate of them on average is well under 45%. Thats under 0,9 points per shot and is equal of shooting under 30% from the three. Contested post hook shots have also been low efficency shots and since big men rarely are good passer, that doesnt usually equal efficent offense. Those are things that are hard to change by rules because the league has become smarter by utilizing analytics.

One thing that could be quite easy to change is the thing @ESP47 said. Getting to the free throw line by exaggerating/initiating contact. That should be the number one priority. IMO that hurts the product at least as much as "load management" but it almost never is talked about. Getting to the line has always been somewhat a "skill" but it has gone monumentaly worse during the past few years. Lebron used to be the number 1 in FTA. That was not because of exaggerating contact. It was because his skill and strength made him almost impossible to defend. Nowadays you get to the line by all these bulls*it tactics and that should be fixed immediately. Would help with the product a lot. Less unnececary breaks during the game, less frustrating "fouls" and having to develope the gameplan more towards motion offense instead of fishing for fouls in 1-1 situations

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

NBA is probably never going back to shooting contested post hooks and mid range jumpers. Thats because mathematically its not smart and I cant think of many rule changes that would make those shots smart. Mid range jumper has always been inefficent shot because the succes rate of them on average is well under 45%. Thats under 0,9 points per shot and is equal of shooting under 30% from the three. Contested post hook shots have also been low efficency shots and since big men rarely are good passer, that doesnt usually equal efficent offense. Those are things that are hard to change by rules because the league has become smarter by utilizing analytics.

It turns out that homogeneous basketball is boring, even when it's "smart." Nobody wants to watch thirty teams that play the same.

 

[Gguod]

It turns out that homogeneous basketball is boring, even when it's "smart." Nobody wants to watch thirty teams that play the same.

To me its not just "homogeneous basketball". The ultimate goal is to score more than your opponent, thus you look for opportunities that give you the best opportunity to do that. Open layup is always the best shot so you look for that, defense tries to take it away obviously so then you have to counter it. If you have five shooters on the court it forces defenses to do certain things and then you coubter what the defense does.

To me all that countering means it not "homogeneous basketball". All the different defensive tacticts means its not homogenous. For example Bucks has completely different defensive scheme than the championship Warriors even if they both try to accomplish the same thing, countering the opponents attempts to get open layups, free throws and three pointers. Different schemes and personnel brings variation and to me its extremely interesting how each team decides to scheme against known tactics and what new tactics will develope. A lot more interesting than some team taking inefficent shots and being bad because of it, especially if its a team I root for.

Thats just my opinion though obviously but the point is that there is plenty of interesting stuff going on even after the analytics became more popular

 

[Section 101]

NBA is probably never going back to shooting contested post hooks and mid range jumpers. Thats because mathematically its not smart and I cant think of many rule changes that would make those shots smart. Mid range jumper has always been inefficent shot because the succes rate of them on average is well under 45%. Thats under 0,9 points per shot and is equal of shooting under 30% from the three. Contested post hook shots have also been low efficency shots and since big men rarely are good passer, that doesnt usually equal efficent offense. Those are things that are hard to change by rules because the league has become smarter by utilizing analytics.

Easy fix. Don't have the 3 point line go down the sideline. Keep the circle going to the out of bounds line. No more short corner/sideline 3s.

 

[Gguod]

Easy fix. Don't have the 3 point line go down the sideline. Keep the circle going to the out of bounds line. No more short corner/sideline 3s.

That doesnt help with the inefficent post game since teams would gladly pack the paint and let players shoot sub 40% mid rangers from the corner. Also it doesnt improve the efficency of mid range shots and thus it doesnt make it a good shot. It would be harder to get up threes but I would think that rule change would only increase the type of game Harden plays: dribble dribble dribble and shoot a three and/or draw a foul.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

To me its not just "homogeneous basketball". The ultimate goal is to score more than your opponent, thus you look for opportunities that give you the best opportunity to do that. Open layup is always the best shot so you look for that, defense tries to take it away obviously so then you have to counter it. If you have five shooters on the court it forces defenses to do certain things and then you coubter what the defense does.

To me all that countering means it not "homogeneous basketball"...

As a pedant, I can certainly appreciate an argument that, essentially, boils down to, "Well, actually, mint, moss, lime, laurel, olive, avocado and emerald are nothing alike!" But, with the way I consume sports-as-entertainment, it's all "green," to me. From my point of view, that's as close to homogeneous as makes no odds, because the point is that there used to be some purple and orange and silver and blue in there. It wasn't all just different shades of green.