Why are NBA TV ratings down so much?

[trojanfan12]

The NBA is the entity that injected the politics to begin with.

Uh, so did the NFL.

 

[tlance]

I actually stopped watching when the Celtics traded Pierce and Garnett to the Nets. That was enough for me. I’m sure that’s more than 10 years ago now. And, yes, it feels good to unburden myself.

Yeah, that was a pretty horrendous trade for the Nets.

I would have stopped watching too if I were a Net fan.

 

[tlance]

You don’t need to “explain” it. You can just read what people have posted in this thread.

I don’t understand this “must defend the NBA at all costs” attitude from some on here. Is it a perfect product? Is it as good as it was when you were a kid? Is anyone critical of the NBA in any way just plain wrong?

Is the NBA as good as it was when I was a kid?

It is better. A lot better.

There is more talent across the league than ever before. We have highly marketable superstars that have carried the league and are on their last legs (LeBron, KD, Curry) and the next wave of stars ready to come in a take over (Wemby, Ant, Doncic, SGA).

The league has correctly done away with violent non-basketball plays. Analytics have led to most teams playing an up tempo pace and space style that highlights the amazing skills these players have better than any previous generation.

Pistons, Knicks and Pacers turned the 90s and early 2000s into an unwatchable wrestling match. Personalities like MJ kept people dialed in throughout, but even that narrative would be a lot different if it played out with today’s access to media.

The NBA isn’t broken. Far from it. The problem is that there are a lot more loud mouths out there that have voices and spew all kinds of hate about the product. And people believe it because they saw it on the internet.

So those many of those people choose to watch cars drive around in circles instead.

But yeah, watching the best athletes in the world make 28 foot shots is boring. Okay, if you say so.

 

[tlance]

Uh, so did the NFL.

I think the difference there is that the NBA choose to work with players to allow them to use their platform.

The NFL basically tried to protect the shield and shut players up.

If someone is so triggered by seeing a viewpoint that doesn’t align with theirs, then what the hell are they doing here?

IMO, NBA outlook shows maturity. NFL shows fear.

 

[Gman]

My take:

• No (big) problem with the game itself. A lot of 3's are fine. Up tempo (more pace) is fine. These can absolutely be parts of a great basketball product.
• I like the recent move by the league to allow a little more physicality and call less fouls. It was a move in the right direction.
• Load management is a problem. It's never fun for fans to have their favorite players sit for any amount of games.
• Additionally, its been true for a while that regular season intensity is spotty across the league. It's a long season, and many guys/teams (simply put) don't bring it 100% every night.
• Playoff NBA basketball is a superior product... that's when professional basketball really sizzles.

 

[justanidiot]

probably starts because the NBA cannot get away from back to back games and these stupidstars making 50 million a season refuse to play back to backs. They pull out the schedule at the beginning of the season and plan days off.

Just the "regular" max money players that I never heard of are making a half a million dollars to play a single game.

Three games in 4 nights and then no game for 5 days makes no sense. This stupid in season tournament starting around 1/8th of the way into the season is also a mindless money grab.

I dont see any kind of resurgence until LeBron retires.

 

[tlance]

probably starts because the NBA cannot get away from back to back games and these stupidstars making 50 million a season refuse to play back to backs. They pull out the schedule at the beginning of the season and plan days off.

Just the "regular" max money players that I never heard of are making a half a million dollars to play a single game.

Three games in 4 nights and then no game for 5 days makes no sense. This stupid in season tournament starting around 1/8th of the way into the season is also a mindless money grab.

I dont see any kind of resurgence until LeBron retires.

LeBron gets unfairly blamed for so much.

You are right the back to backs are a problem.

But guys sitting isn’t changing until the NBA addresses the schedule.

Other pro leagues play half as many games. You don’t need 82.

So shorten the schedule to 50 games. Play 2 games a week and pay them a million per game.

 

[trojanfan12]

But yeah, watching the best athletes in the world make 28 foot shots is boring. Okay, if you say so.

No (big) problem with the game itself. A lot of 3's are fine. Up tempo (more pace) is fine. These can absolutely be parts of a great basketball product.

The only real issue that I have with the number of 3's teams take is that when the 3's aren't falling, most teams just keep shooting them instead of taking higher percentage shots and going back to the 3 later...

When both are missing, it becomes damn near unwatchable and if one team is hitting them and the other isn't, you get blowouts, which are boring.

Having said that, the great thing about the is that a team can overcome a big lead pretty quickly, which can lead to some pretty exciting comebacks.

Load management is a problem. It's never fun for fans to have their favorite players sit for any amount of games.

I get the point of load management, but I don't like how it's done. Load management to some extent has been around for a long time. With Riley on the Showtime Lakers...as a Lakers fan, you knew that as soon as the Lakers secured playoff position, you weren't going to see Kareem, Magic or Worthy much, if at all...and you knew guys like Byron Scott, AC Green and Rambis would play fewer minutes too. If you chose to go to one of those games, you knew you wouldn't see them.

Now, you have guys sitting out certain games, not playing in both games of back to backs (and announcing it ) which makes it feel like you're just spending a lot of money on tickets for the hope that the star players will play.

 

[Gman]

The only real issue that I have with the number of 3's teams take is that when the 3's aren't falling, most teams just keep shooting them instead of taking higher percentage shots and going back to the 3 later...

When both are missing, it becomes damn near unwatchable and if one team is hitting them and the other isn't, you get blowouts, which are boring.

Having said that, the great thing about the is that a team can overcome a big lead pretty quickly, which can lead to some pretty exciting comebacks.

^ This is fair... but at the same time, it's equally true that in "old school" basketball you could get some low scoring games where physical defense is causing a lot of ugly misses and such... causing an arguably "boring" game as a result.

So... there's no perfect "brand" to avoid such outcomes.

 

[chappee11]

Yeah, that was a pretty horrendous trade for the Nets.

I would have stopped watching too if I were a Net fan.

I don’t think the Nets have fans. I’m a Celtics fan. I grew up watching the Bird/Parrish/McHale teams squaring off against the Showtime Lakers with Magic and Worthy and Kareem. Looking back, that was the Golden Age of the NBA. I’m sure the ratings were nowhere near what they are now, but the product was fantastic.

I don’t watch anymore(everything to do with style of play and nothing to do with politics) but I do still hope the Celtics win.

 

[trojanfan12]

^ This is fair... but at the same time, it's equally true that in "old school" basketball you could get some low scoring games where physical defense is causing a lot of ugly misses and such... causing an arguably "boring" game as a result.

So... there's no perfect "brand" to avoid such outcomes.

Yeah, to an extent, even if they got rid of the 3, there would still be blowouts in basketball. All you need is an off night shooting by one team and things can get ugly. But watching a team continue to jack 3's when they could take higher percentage shots to at least stay in striking distance can be pretty frustrating.

To the leagues credit and as you point out, they have allowed some physicality back which helps. I don't want to go back to the 90's (even though it was still fun to watch), but closer to the mix of finesse and physicality they had in the 80's would be good.

 

[chappee11]

The only real issue that I have with the number of 3's teams take is that when the 3's aren't falling, most teams just keep shooting them instead of taking higher percentage shots and going back to the 3 later...

When both are missing, it becomes damn near unwatchable and if one team is hitting them and the other isn't, you get blowouts, which are boring.

Having said that, the great thing about the is that a team can overcome a big lead pretty quickly, which can lead to some pretty exciting comebacks.



I get the point of load management, but I don't like how it's done. Load management to some extent has been around for a long time. With Riley on the Showtime Lakers...as a Lakers fan, you knew that as soon as the Lakers secured playoff position, you weren't going to see Kareem, Magic or Worthy much, if at all...and you knew guys like Byron Scott, AC Green and Rambis would play fewer minutes too. If you chose to go to one of those games, you knew you wouldn't see them.

Now, you have guys sitting out certain games, not playing in both games of back to backs (and announcing it ) which makes it feel like you're just spending a lot of money on tickets for the hope that the star players will play.

I still can’t get over seeing the 7 foot guy standing 25 feet from the hoop popping 3’s. In my day, that guy was stationed under the net to rebound. I just looked and Robert Parish only ATTEMPTED 6 three-pointers in his entire career(he missed them all). And he played for almost 100 years. Now he would probably attempt that many every night.

They would also pass the ball around the interior looking for the best/open shot. Now they just pass until they locate the best 3 point attempt. And it’s a brick 60% of the time, and you have to pretend that it’s exciting seeing so many missed shots.

 

[The Q]

Yeah, to an extent, even if they got rid of the 3, there would still be blowouts in basketball. All you need is an off night shooting by one team and things can get ugly. But watching a team continue to jack 3's when they could take higher percentage shots to at least stay in striking distance can be pretty frustrating.

To the leagues credit and as you point out, they have allowed some physicality back which helps. I don't want to go back to the 90's (even though it was still fun to watch), but closer to the mix of finesse and physicality they had in the 80's would be good.

90s were the best everything

 

[ROMOTOOWENS]

My take:

• No (big) problem with the game itself. A lot of 3's are fine. Up tempo (more pace) is fine. These can absolutely be parts of a great basketball product.
• I like the recent move by the league to allow a little more physicality and call less fouls. It was a move in the right direction.
• Load management is a problem. It's never fun for fans to have their favorite players sit for any amount of games.
• Additionally, its been true for a while that regular season intensity is spotty across the league. It's a long season, and many guys/teams (simply put) don't bring it 100% every night.
• Playoff NBA basketball is a superior product... that's when professional basketball really sizzles.

Excellent post.

probably starts because the NBA cannot get away from back to back games and these stupidstars making 50 million a season refuse to play back to backs. They pull out the schedule at the beginning of the season and plan days off.

Just the "regular" max money players that I never heard of are making a half a million dollars to play a single game.

Three games in 4 nights and then no game for 5 days makes no sense. This stupid in season tournament starting around 1/8th of the way into the season is also a mindless money grab.

I dont see any kind of resurgence until LeBron retires.

Until Lebron retires ??? So you think the NBA will do better when he is gone ??

 

[bksballer89]

probably starts because the NBA cannot get away from back to back games and these stupidstars making 50 million a season refuse to play back to backs. They pull out the schedule at the beginning of the season and plan days off.

Just the "regular" max money players that I never heard of are making a half a million dollars to play a single game.

Three games in 4 nights and then no game for 5 days makes no sense. This stupid in season tournament starting around 1/8th of the way into the season is also a mindless money grab.

I dont see any kind of resurgence until LeBron retires.

Such a shit post. Outside of Embiid, what other player is refusing to play b2b? We don’t even know if that’s legit either.

Blaming LeBron for this shows how dumb you are as he’s never been one to not want to play or complain about back to backs

 

[The Q]

My take:

• No (big) problem with the game itself. A lot of 3's are fine. Up tempo (more pace) is fine. These can absolutely be parts of a great basketball product.
• I like the recent move by the league to allow a little more physicality and call less fouls. It was a move in the right direction.
• Load management is a problem. It's never fun for fans to have their favorite players sit for any amount of games.
• Additionally, its been true for a while that regular season intensity is spotty across the league. It's a long season, and many guys/teams (simply put) don't bring it 100% every night.
• Playoff NBA basketball is a superior product... that's when professional basketball really sizzles.

Alot of this is true

much like hockey

Take away the corner 3 and narrowing the lane after embiid retires is the way

 

[Pastafazul]

Is the NBA as good as it was when I was a kid?

It is better. A lot better.

There is more talent across the league than ever before. We have highly marketable superstars that have carried the league and are on their last legs (LeBron, KD, Curry) and the next wave of stars ready to come in a take over (Wemby, Ant, Doncic, SGA).

The league has correctly done away with violent non-basketball plays. Analytics have led to most teams playing an up tempo pace and space style that highlights the amazing skills these players have better than any previous generation.

Pistons, Knicks and Pacers turned the 90s and early 2000s into an unwatchable wrestling match. Personalities like MJ kept people dialed in throughout, but even that narrative would be a lot different if it played out with today’s access to media.

The NBA isn’t broken. Far from it. The problem is that there are a lot more loud mouths out there that have voices and spew all kinds of hate about the product. And people believe it because they saw it on the internet.

So those many of those people choose to watch cars drive around in circles instead.

But yeah, watching the best athletes in the world make 28 foot shots is boring. Okay, if you say so.

It is not, no freekin way

Biggest reason is leflop

That show put on during the all star game, puke, was orchestrated by leflop himself, and it was brutal, and pretty much sums up the NBA. All show, no blow!

The talent is better, no doubt, but the game itself, does not match that talent

If you can shoot the 3, you’re in

Would Kareem be the same player today?

 

[The Q]

Such a shit post. Outside of Embiid, what other player is refusing to play b2b? We don’t even know if that’s legit either.

Blaming LeBron for this shows how dumb you are as he’s never been one to not want to play or complain about back to backs

A lot of guys sit out back to backs

Been that way for years

 

[bksballer89]

A lot of guys sit out back to backs

Been that way for years

Refusing to play and the team making a decision to sit a guy out are completely different. Outside of Embiid please show me any other player saying they won’t play back to backs?

 

[bksballer89]

And also outside of guys with injury history aka klay or kawhi, you can’t even find a situation where a player sat out every back to back. People on here are just lying