Why NBA is dying: - 3 point contest/Brickfest/Airball Fest - Entitled players - Dramatic players - Lazy defenses - Terrible calls / Refs - Teams getting constantly blownout every game - Terrible Media And the list goes on...
- allowing blatant partisan political preferences to be espoused - too much player control - changing rules to clearly benefit one player's 'legacy' - gimmicky additions that NO ONE asked for and no one likes - weak leadership from the CINO (commissioner in name only) - and lastly - klutch sports
Wow hundred percent true!!! Gone are the Golden years of basketball where everybidy wants to be like mike, kobe, ai, vince, lebron etc. Also, players nowadays play for the sake of money not to win.
and politics. Regardless of what your political opinions are, from a business perspective it is ALWAYS dumb to alienate 50 % of your potential clients.
The goofy narrative where NBA players from back in the day wouldn't cut it today has to stop. They're still tall, skilled guys. They would just train for the way the game is played today. Please stap it
Bingo. FG% was lower because they could actually play defense back then. The players from that era would DESTROY any team today because they were much tougher and faced tougher challenges. Yes, the increased number of 3s today COMBINED with no one playing defense (which is actually circular) means better percentages from 3 and higher scores overall. shame on the OP for trying to paint some false narrative about older generations. I guarantee that in 20-30 years, the nba top 75 will still be mostly pre-2000s players and they occupy most of the top spots. MJ will still be the GOAT and lebron will be forgotten.
How can you compare the shooting averages from the 90s and today? There used to be hard fouls and ferocious defense played. There's literally no defense in today's league. That's why the shooting average is so much higher.
@@deejonharris1339 That's not what I said. I said the talent pool on the whole is more skilled today than it was of the past. Just go watch a full game from the 90's and the talent in aggregate is not what it is today.
@@And.One.Hoops1people don’t have to go watch a full game from the 90’s… WE WERE THERE! kids these days. WOKE politics killed the league and you won’t even mention it. Enjoy your league on a CHINA stream while making rigged bets on draftkings.
Listen, I’m a 90’s super fan, I LOVED 90’s basketball. But I can’t in good conscience say the league AS A WHOLE was more skilled then than it is now. Anybody who goes back and watches the games will see why. That’s not a knock on players of the past, that literally can apply to ANY sport when you compare it today from 30-40 years ago. As humans, we evolve and get better at every craft, especially with the advances of medicine and sports technology. It’s only natural players will get better at the game. Just because you don’t like the way they play, doesn’t mean they’re less skilled
@@kd-zq5oq There are A LOT of problems with the NBA today that need to be fixed, which I called out. But fans are exaggerating the product and a lot of is social media based narratives that take on a life of it's own
This guy doesn't know CHIT about basketball saying "today's are more skilled". Just watching Dennis Rodman rack up rebounds was more exciting than today's top talent.
Totally agree. What he considers "More skilled today" would be violations in past eras. Guys constantly travel, carry, double dribble and offensive push off and then flop and a foul is called on the defense. It's like saying a cornerback in football is more skilled, yet every pass play he commits pass interference that is uncalled
Players in aggregate are more skilled today than they used to be. Not “all players are more skilled than all players back in the day.” On the whole, the talent pool is higher than 30 years ago
They are more skilled, but its because they have access to better training and equipment. Its also the reason why the game isnt as fun to watch, everyone can shoot now so games have become a 3 point contest :/
@ Don’t worry if enough people stop watching the NBA then they’ll probably stop watching NBA UA-cam too. You guys can enjoy this league without us or our unimportant feedback lmao
Don't care about stats. Its the eye test. Stats is what caused load management and three point barrage. Give us some real players that care about the game, Anthony Edwards.
yea i hate when people bring up all those stat arguments like people really give af realistically at least 80-90% of nba watchers are casuals who don’t even know those stats😂
You lost me at the "inferior players of the past" take. Their work ethic was impecable. They would have easily adjusted to today's game. Bad take. Thumbs down.
IMO the problem is the NBA has gotten too greedy with broadcasting. There are cities where its cheaper to get league pass than it is to watch their own team on TV. Don't even get me started on the multiple streaming packages needed to watch national games. The interest is there and growing, but actual NBA basketball has never been less accessible. If the NBA counted streameast numbers they'd see their peaking in viewers if anything
U hit the nail on the head. I have UA-cam TV. I live in Chicago. I was able to watch the bulls and nearby teams like Bucks and 76ers daily. But now it wont even let me watch the bulls(the area where im from) and it barely lets me watch any games now. Some days it wont even let me watch basketball at all even when games are gone. So stupid. Havent watched one Bulls game this year and bars are having trouble with it too. I might get leagur pass buy damn I dont want to drop more money.
Comparing Eras in Basketball (or sports in general) without comparing Rules is great foolishness, especially when trying to make the case for modern era being "better or more skilled"
I'm curious, when was the last time you re-watched a game from 90's and saw the overall talent pool from top to bottom? How does it look compared to the 12 man rosters of today?
Blowouts are so common now, starters resting in the third quarter. Hand Check and emphasis on defense needs to be added in order to make threes more difficult and punishing teams for pulling players early
For me it's just that every fucking team is pretty much the same. OKC does play defense, but by in large every team is trying to do the same thing. Like in the NFL has the Lions, Ravens, Chiefs, and Bills and all of those teams play different styles of basketball. I've watched less basketball this year than I have ever. I hate to say it but I think the idea that people just can't watch a two hour game is cope for the NBA. The NFL ratings are going up and people will say "yeah, but that's the NFL." College Football Ratings are going up. Then they'll go "Well that's just football" The MLB ratings were the highest they have been in seven years. The Premier league hit a record for NBC last year. The WNBA could be a flash in the pan due to Clark, but when you've got so many leagues that are doing better than in previous years I have a hard time saying "People just don't want to watch TV anymore." The NFL has pretty significant rule changes almost every year and points of emphasis ever year. The MLB just had cataclysmic changes to it's game. Change is the only way to fix this. They've got to find a way to diversify the style of play. Whether that's removing the corner 3 or something else they've got to make changes.
Yeah ngl a lot of this video felt like cope or a NBA paid for ad. “There’s nothing wrong with todays game yall are just nostalgic and listening to social media”💀 I do think some things are overhated but come on bruh what is fun about watching teams jack up 100 3s when they aren’t even good at shooting them 😑 be fr. Got great dynamic athletes settling for step back 3s but sure that’s so fun to watch
8:11 ok so with this logic, why is it that the NFL is setting ratings records while the NBA is having one of its worst ratings runs ever? You can’t say “people have short attention spans” and can’t watch 2h30m games when not only are NFL games an entire 1 hour longer, but people are constantly tuning in and can watch these games without the same “distractions” that you mentioned? Like even the Bears/Lions Thanksgiving game was the most watched Thanksgiving game in league history, and the Bears STINK! Bad take.
The stratification of our culture means ratings across the board are down - cable news, movie tickets, etc. People are too busy scrolling on social media or UA-cam to watch 82 regular season games.
You’re forgetting politics buddy. People are sick of millionaires telling them anything political! While most of them barely passed high school. Tf is LeBron gonna be saying anything when every time they take a picture of him with a book he’s on page 1! Does the guy even read?
I would agree with you if not for the fact that every other sports league has seen ratings increases. Even baseball saw its highest viewership numbers in a decade this past season and that was the regular season. NBA’s problem is not societal, it’s NBA
@@andrewschmidt1566 exactly!!! This video should be taken down for misinformation 😂 If there was so much attention disorder than why are other sports gaining attention and viewership! I mean look at Formula 1! Massive boom in numbers. Because we don’t have “stars” preaching us on what to do!
Im sorry, but this was brought about like Steph Curry. The success of the Warriors brought this about, and Iman Shumpert said it best, "The problem isnt that you shoot alot of 3pts, its the fact you think you're Curry."
Yes and no. Steph and the Warriors brought in the era of small ball and every team since then has been trying to perfectly execute what the Warriors did. The problem isn't about just about the 3s. What's the fun in watching basketball if everyone is just running small ball lineup and fumbling the ball or bricking 3s? At its best, small ball is amazing as the Warriors showed in the 2010s. At its worst, it's close to unwatchable. Blaming the Warriors and Steph for this is like blaming someone else for being better than you at work. There's always deeper problems than that. Think critically.
@@tirosc You're completely right, Golden State was an amazing team because of chemistry, ball movement pacing and perimeter defense. Teams only replicated the shooting
@@bamidelakin-np2ub The three point shooting influx is a factor, but the NBA is still doing very well. NBA is currently king of social media. The issue is getting fans in front of televisions. It's no longer the 80s/90s. Fans have more than 8 channels
Not really. That takes responsibility away from the other teams and their management. The Warriors did a few things differently that lead to their success and 3 point shooting, IMO, was the least significant aspect of their success. They ran the Princeton offense, which was something that got Mike Brown fired for when he tried it years earlier in LA and had the media bashing him for trying it. Now off ball movement is the new meta of the league, and in that regard the game is better for it. The Warriors also put together lineups with versatile defenders who could switch on defense for every position in the game. As much as everyone wants to focus on their 3 point shooting, the Warriors were a top 5 defensive team in the NBA for every one of their finals appearances. That's something that has been true of nearly every team to win the title over the last 40 years. The Warriors have the 2 best shooters in NBA history on their team. Why wouldn't they utilize that? The problem is that for all of the good things, that can be replicated without too much trouble, the other teams tried to copy the volume 3 point shooting. Which only works because.....they had the 2 best shooters in the history of the game. That's just bad management. When you couple that along with the universal trend of falling head over heels for metrics, then you wind up with a bad product. Why metrics are bad: Some are good. Others are terrible, and without the ability to apply proper context to the metric, they can be misleading. "The mid range shot is the worst shot in basketball". No. A rushed shot is the worst in basketball. The interpretation of the metric is that you should always just jack up a 3 if you have any amount of space. In reality, if you have to rush that shot, it's got a very low chance of going in. If you pump fake, get the defender to jump by you and take one dribble inside the line, shoot in rhythm, are wide open with plenty of time, the mid range shot is a MUCH better shot than the 3. Truthfully, no metric can predict a good shot or a bad shot. The best shot in the game of basketball has always, and will always be, the most wide open shot with the most amount of time to shoot it. Defensive win shares is a terrible stat. Bad defenders playing on good defensive teams lead the league in defensive win shares. Last year KAT was 9th in the league in defensive win shares. Damien Lilllard was in the top 30. Everyone knows they are bad defensive players. Sorry but blaming Steph and the Warriors for this mess is a bad take. Teams have to take responsibility for adopting metrics without understanding what to listen to and what to filter out, and chasing a trend that shouldn't be chased. It's great that players are focusing more on shooting. Players should always shoot open 3's if they have the time and are not rushing a shot. But trying to force 3 point shots is bad for the league and the Warriors and Steph Curry are not the coach's responsible for the 29 other teams poor decision making.
Some of the offensive increase in efficiency is shooting and ball handling getting better, but some of it is the changes to the rules around hand checking and how they call fouls making it harder to play defense. The game makes it too hard to play defense at the moment based on the rules, allowing a bit more physicality by defenses would help.
I kinda agree but I also don’t hear this discourse with other sports. Ratings aren’t down in other sports. The playstyle and the lack of care teams put into the regular season matters. The fact that there’s no dynasties also kills casual interest. Jokic isn’t a good face of the league because he’s zero drama or flash. It’ll rebalance but the 2020s will be looked at as a dark age for the NBA like the 70s were.
Show me another athlete that has as little control over themselves as lebron does when it comes to posting pretty much any nonsense that wanders through that wasteland he calls his head. Did Tom Brady do that? Does Shohei Otahni do that? Does lionel Messi do that? no. they shut up and play the game. And THAT'S why ratings are down.
2:34 “Nostalgia - its delicate, but potent. In Greek nostalgia literally means ‘the pain from an old wound.’ It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone.” - Don Draper
That is why you see 7 plus foot guys jacking up 3s, they have to run less and don't have to face the physical inside play, leave that physical stuff to 6-4 skinny guards who can run up and down the court all night!
This video was approved by Adam Silver. I get your take and the stats that you are adding to support your it but there was something about the NBA in the 90s, that is why is considered the golden era. It is not only 3 pointers, load management, or player apaty. For me it was the rivaries that created the story lines. I was always excited to watch Bulls vs Knicks, or vs Pacers. There was a sence of pride to crush your opponent. Today seems, to eye of many fans, like the all friends league. Also, the stunt that LeBron pulled with his son was another reason fans are not watching.
The NBA Cup has made the early NBA so impossible to watch. I'm a Nuggets fans, but for my team it feels like we are playing one game at week. We play one... then 3 days off... We play another game...4 days off... we play one day... 6 days without playing. It's ridiculous. Since the NBA Cup i feel like i'm watching less basketball than ever because every time i feel like watching a game there not games being play or just 2 or 3 games instead of the usual 7 to 9 games allowing me to pick what i want to watch. This NBA Cup schedule is terrible. Too many pauses, and you got the tournament then a in between regular games, then a cup game, then 9 regualar games, then semis of NBA Cup. which makes teams who aren't on the tournament spend like 20 days of resting at home with no basketball being play or long break between games
I see a logical flaw in your argument: more points = better game. I don’t agree with that! What’s wrong with good defense? A game with 93 ppg and 44% shooting can still be a good game. The problem is, casual fans don’t understand defense. To me, all those mindless shots being jacked up is boring. Personally, I don’t mind watching games where the score is below 100 points.
ratings have been horrible and the teams that have been taking 10 billion 3s are usually good so there is no on-court reason to stop, i hope ratings keep going down and the league gets put in a tough spot so the players will actually care about the game and putting a good product out there instead of just getting contracts
More skilled? Better shooting of the three pointer? Slightly better due to the focus of it. Wouldn’t say that makes them more skilled. 1.4% better.. smh • 1980s: 28.9% • 1990s: 34.7% • 2000s: 35.6% • 2010s: 35.6% • 2020s: 36.1%
@ i hear your point, but thats all it is. The fans have spoken they dont like what they see. Sure NBA aint dead just too comfortable. Appreciate the content.
This is crazy if you put a team today in the 1990s they couldn't deal with the physical play. The NBA was more popular with the scores in the 90s because the players played hard on the defensive end.
The NBA has gone all in with appealing to casual fans and trying to push a narrative of excitement. When I was a kid, learning the game, the broadcasters like Stu Lantz, Doug Collins, and Hubbie Brown would break down calls and plays and explain what was happening. This took me from being an uneducated casual fan, to someone who truly loved the game because I could understand it. Now the NBA lets people travel, let's players commit offensive fouls every game, and even when the terrible officiating gets completely exposed on replay review, just keeps letting it happen. Refs never get suspended or fired. It's extremely rare when a bad call even gets publicly acknowledged. IMO the NBA has 2 big problems. The first being that the game has terrible, and I mean worst in all of professional sports terrible officiating. WWE referee's have a better reputation for officiating than NBA refs. The second being educating it's casual fan base into knowledgeable fans. It's OK to appeal to casuals. Highlights and short form content will always be able to attract casual fans. But if the NBA wants to retain those fans, it needs to educate them about the game. It needs to stop insulting the intelligence of the viewer and address the officiating. If you have never seen a basketball game in your life, you watch a game, the ref makes a bad call on someone who is 3 feet away from the person who they committed a "foul" against, and there is a replay, where anyone who can rub two brain cells together can see that the defender never touched the guy, and somehow the replay doesn't overturn the bad call, that's going to turn people away. Casual fans come and go, they have a short attention span and really only care about highlights. Trying to turn the game into a 2 and a half hour highlight reel isn't the answer. If every play is a highlight, then nothing is a highlight. The NBA needs to teach it's fans about the nuance of the game. So that they can enjoy the little things when a play isn't going to lead to a dunk or a 3, but the fan can see something happening and understand what's about to happen in the next 10 seconds because of what they are watching. In order to educate the fans, the NBA has to clean up it's officiating. People who don't understand the game that well know that it's bad. People who have been watching for decades have a hard time even making it to the end of a game because it's so bad. Educating casual fans while leaving the officiating unaddressed will just cause more people to quit watching. I honestly feel like the NBA is sports entertainment at this point. It's not even a true sport any longer. It's on the same level as professional wrestling.
This direct comparison of era's stats is dumb. 3 defensive seconds rule, no hand check, carrying the ball, traveling... The regular season games sometimes look like sunday fitness games. Schemes have improved, no doubt. But many of today's players wouldn't blossom so much if the paint wasn't that open. Game lacks intensity. The three pointers are not boring, but playing "long game" with three pointers (jacking them up knowing it will benefit long term) has taken out the passion of the moment
Make players today play with the dribbling rules in the 90s I bet a lot of that “skill” disappears real fast. I think a lot of people contribute way too much credit to players and not enough credit to the rules changing for the evolution of the game. The amount of carrying and traveling that happens today is insane and it allows them to do so much more than players could do back in the day
@darrellwilliams9168 exactly. Plus, how harder would be to maintain dribble and drives with hand checking. But I think the factor of "long game" is actually the one that is killing it the most. Threes are being jacked up with having math in game. In other words, today's NBA is more about scoring with having long term results in a game than fighting for each basket
While I get your point about comparing defensive ratings across eras, it's not as simple as just looking at the numbers. The average defensive rating in the 1990s was 106, but the style of play, rules, and offensive strategies were completely different back then. Teams in the 90s faced more iso-heavy, post-up offenses, whereas today’s defenses have to deal with pace-and-space, three-point shooting, and faster ball movement. A team like the Magic might have an average to above average raw defensive rating by 90s standards, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’d be as effective in that era. Defensive ratings are really relative to the challenges of their time, so comparing them without context can be misleading.
I always like and agree with most of the things you share, but I'm not nostalgic at all. I'm 26 so I have nothing to be nostalgic for. Context was different so we can't compare eras the way you're doing it. The game is better when players play defense. And that narrative "The players are so good so now is almost impossible to defend' is not true. Alex Caruso played one of the most impressive defensive performances vs Kevin Durant being overwhelmingly undersized against him. Boston Celtics played D, against Dallas and figured out a way to stop one of the most if not the best offensive duos in the NBA. Playbooks are virtually the same thing for all teams... And I can keep going. That's not the problem, the problem is trying to sell highlights and not a game with strategies.
6:17 the actual issues but the previous issues are just as bad, its not just nostalgia its clear a decline when players don't care cause they're rich, no brand loyalty to team, no rivalries, no real feuds, no competition cause the opponent will be your teammate next year, the problem of those misses is the game is more 3 point focus for no reason
Trying to use stats and data to prove your points about the NBA proves the point that stats and data ruined the NBA. My eyeballs telle it sucks now. Threes, free throws, Carry's, travels and flops. That is why ratings are down.
I would also add the lack of team identity because of players changing teams chasing rings or money. There are no good incentives for players to stay in one team, if they can just cumplain, stop playing, and forcing a trade. I believe there should be huge incentives for players to stay in one place, and the difference between a min and a max contract shouldn't be so much. Now there's basically no middle class. There's just stars and fillers. There's hardly any chance for historical rivalries if all teams are different each year.
I know how to fix this: 1. Make dunking 3 points. Keep the 2 point the 2 point and 3 point the three point. Dunking is harder than 3s especially on good defensive teams and also you would FINALLY bring back the presence of the big man. Plus it’s just EXCITING 2. Teams need to take a different approach to paying players. They need to pay their players like fighting does meaning they make a base pay such as 5 million dollars base then they have the potential too win 10 million with win/performance bonuses. Paying players before they perform doesn’t work. Unless you have a Steph or a LeBron where they CLEARLY DESERVE THE GUARANTEED PAY. 3. Players would be required to play a minimum of 65 games to qualify to play in the playoffs. Period. Unless there is an injury that would be deemed unplayable then the NBA needs to step in and oversee the rehab and doctors for unplayable injury’s to determine whether players can play or can’t. If a players feels he can’t play even after the NBA has deemed him eligible he’s has 17 games to tell the nba to fuck off. But allowing teams to oversee the injury’s and allowing coaching staffs to do load management is complete bullshit. At the end of the day the teams and the NBA have a quality of product to sell
The NBA is dying for one reason: TEAMS DON'T MATTER ANYMORE. I've said it many times before. The death knell for the NBA was the moment LeBron James pulled an ESPN interview and announced that he was taking his talents to South Beach. Since then, players felt compelled to try to engineer their own super team instead of teams constructing actual teams with well-defined roles. Back in the day, a player like Buck Williams could have a long career just by being a rebounding specialist. A PG could have a long career just by being a reliable ball handler and making sure the offense ran smoothly. Now, everyone has to try to be an offensive superstar who can do it all no matter what position they get pencilled into in the lineup. It's all hero-ball all the time. You fix it in part by adding 2 more teams to get to 32 and then creating smaller Divisions within each Conference and making Division Winners get an automatic Playoff berth and 1st Round home playoff series just like the NFL does.
You contradict yourself! First, defense is not what it used to be, no handcheck. Then players score more efficiently today... DUH! Please, talk golf!!!
The only way the NBA can fix the three-point problem is by holding these players accountable. I think the best proposal is for every three-point shot taken…if you miss, -1 point gets deducted and taken off the board. It’ll make these guys think twice about chucking up 3’s with no conscious if they’re hurting their team. Silver won’t do anything like this bc he doesn’t have any balls, but they should and it would be effective.
It is amazing that we are not supposed to believe our lying eye again. Stats never factor in the result of the physical aspect of the game. When you get bodied up and pulled from the tip off til the end of the game it carries an intimidation factor. So teams would have adjust and overcome. Today's game allows guys to enter the paint on a drive unmolested that didnot happen in the day. That carries weight if you've ever played any at all. But it's not a Stat but it's fact.
You forgot tanking. My team is one of the most successful in NBA history and once made the playoffs 20+ years in a row. They have been tanking the last 3 years. Who wants to watch that?
I don't think players are more skilled today because they don't play defense like players from the past. Many games (especially all star games) are unwatchable now because no one is trying to stop anyone from scoring. There is a way to stop teams from shooting too many 3's. The NBA can limit the amount of 3' pointers that will count as 3's in each game. After a team shoots over that amount all shots should be counted as 2 point shots. Even shots taken from behind the 3 point line. Problem solved.
also the 30 different jerseys every team has these days and the weird ads plastered all over the court just makes everything so soulless and shows how they just cosmetically change everything trying to fix massive underlying mechanical issues
EDIT: ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS EVER CREATED Holy smokes this blew away all my expectations.
Before i watch this probably wrong video, heres the FACTUAL reasons why "ratings are down" ( they arent actually but let's go) 1. Literally cant watch your own teams anymore. This is 90% of the reason. Everything else just emotion based and wrong 2. LeBron needs to retire. Hes poisoned every ounce of the NBA sphere and needs to go ASAP 3. Soft Officiating which prevents players from playing defense like they should. Stupid techs. Tossing players out for nothin 2 and 3 are only 10% of the reason whereas not showing the friggen games is obviously the biggest reason for the fall off
I have been a league pass subscriber since 2013 and terminated it since last season. My personal problem with these 2 years and further is how the current CBA has lowered the quality of basketball. Watching teams with all-stars that performed and win championships only to become average due to budget problems and turn that championship team to become an average team is such a turn-off. I don't blame just the CBA, it's the GMs that can't adapt to change, it's the coaches that can't utilize the new players, it's the players who can't execute the play, absolutely. But you also can't argue how the CBA just doesn't gel well with the ever-increasing player contracts and supermax contracts.
The players are definitely more skilled today I agree better programs and better science to develop from a young her age. Where I find the problem with the league is that every game looks the same. 98% of teams run the same offense. The players in the golden eras had better mindset and discipline because they weren’t getting the bag like players now and their roles were more defined. But ratings don’t lie my man 48% down since 2012. Politics, load management, way too many 3s, players flopping and complaining after every call, commercials during free throws, more fouls called. Want me to continue? Also, dude all the advanced analytics ruin the sport the don’t make a good argument. It has to pass the eye test.
I remember back in the 2000s each team had their own style, something to take advantage of the type players they had to work for the system that fit them. The Pistons would play hard nose defense to make up for their lack of offense. The Suns would run that famous 7 second offense off a made or miss shot. Orlando would play inside out with Dwight and Hedo and Rashard Lewis. Utah would still be running the pick and roll offense with Boozer and Williams. The Lakers had the triangle offense with Shaq/Pau and Kobe. Roll players currently are more talented than the roll players from the past, it's still doesn't make up for that the only identity that most teams bring is "this team shoots a lot of 3s and have good wing defenders". The only teams that I can think of that bring their own unique style that separates themselves from the rest of the league are probably the Warrior's with their ball movement and maybe the Lakers with their focus on scoring at the rim and getting fouls to make up for their lack of perimeter shooting. I still watch the games but man I can only watch a team run a 3 on 1 fast break for it to end on a 3 point shot so many times before I turn it off. When I first started watching basketball you had players being so creative with how they would score. Yes I understand hero ball isn't for "analytics" but I'm not watching to see a player take the best percentage shot and more efficient shot. I'm trying to watch for entertainment. It was fun back when Kobe used to make crazy ridiculous shots, Iverson crossing over bigger defenders, Wade making circus shots or Dwight posting up and setting up someone for a dunk.
Few days later the Celtics came out and shot 46 3s, on their own. Missed 4 out of 5, but just kept chucking em. 22 point second half. This isn't basketball. My issue is definitely missing the midrange and post game. It's not nostalgia. It's reality.
I feel like the NBA is going through what happened to the NHL and MLB. All the stars retired and none were born. Its just average players now. I guess the same could even be said about WWE.
If im playing and its non pro street game. All im doing is mainly jacking up 3s and camped at the three point line with no defence or very little. My teammates would ask me to leave or im replaced. But the nba rewards players for this
New Rule. Each team gets 5 three pt attempts each period. Each one they miss subtracts from the allotment of 5. If they make it, then they still retain their allotment of 5. If a team misses 5 3pter in any given period, every made shot past the 3pt line is counted as 2pts.
If people today were around the NBA of old they would be miserable and complain even more. We live in a time where the league has the most amount of parody it ever has. The problem is we live in a society where negativity is the default and almost celebrated. While there are certainly problems with the game currently there are problems in every era and it’s disingenuous to paint the NBA of old as this golden standard because the people have nostalgia bias and it is blatantly obvious .
Biggest issue is inconsistent refereeing, refs constantly have their thumb on the scales with what they call and don't call. They also need to start enforcing some of the rules, like carrying and traveling.
If you consider whats on the court today as "more talented" than you are clearly living in an alternate universe. No athletes needed no defense required, Just check in and run to the 3 point line. Give em the old "wheres the help?" on defense and rinse repeat
They should only count them as 3's for the last 2 minutes of the 1st half and 2nd half. Kind of like how the rules change for the last 2 minutes of the half in football. They will count as 2's the rest of the time.
There’s no more showtime. There was a time where I would lose my mind if I missed one second of a laker game when Magic was playing. Please don’t let it be a game against Boston Celtics with bird. I would sell my first born to watch that game. Straight ahead basketball, good Competition, exciting personalities (dr. J), fair refs., stop being so concerned about personal stats and compete (like Lonzo), stop the belly aching and flops. These are my ingredients to improving the nba.
Every player tried to be Step Curry and every single team trying hard to be the Golden States Warriors. The problem is , they are not. I stop tuning in the NBA since seven footers start shooting threes for no reason. NBA deserve its current sorrowful state.
The biggest issue is they think one player should be the face of the league! Jordan became the face of the league. Before him and after it was all about rivalries!
I do not agree. Players definitely do not give two rats about the regular season. If they do not give a dam, why should we? Plus the effects of the three ball revolution where now shooting as much threes as possible is the goal for every team, makes the game very robotic and less diverse... I would not blame social media for this. Because even if that was true, we will not solve the problem. The people would still rather scroll than watching NBA. The solution is making the game more interesting. And that starts with the players. They are he ones who need to care for the game, so that the audience can also care with them.
It's because officiating is out of control. You cant defend without comitting a foul. Anything at the basket just results in boring free throws. Until the refs start biasing one team. Also 3:20 go eat a bag of glizzies.
I agree that all-star format still sucks but you can't deny the NBA cup success as least from the perspective of players giving a crap and actually trying hard.
Even if you have a point with data and facts mattering in terms of offensive efficiency and defensive robustness, the NBA exists as an entertainment product, and, as a product, it's simply not good value right now when there's so much else to watch. Also, as bad as incessant threes 5 seconds into a shot clock and matador defenses are, the load management is an insult to the fanbase after you pay hundreds for tickets, a babysitter, $40 to park, and $14 for a beer because analytics says that a 23 year old kid who is hardly taking any punishment in today's soft game can't play back-to-backs when making 300k a week.
First time I heard of the NBA cup I knew they were trying to compete with football, now with College football competing with NFL going to be tough for NBA
Man fans don’t care about the data, we know what we like and don’t like. The state the game is in sucks. And yall have to stop saying guys from back in the day were not as talented as guys today. Those guys sacrifice their game to make and stay in the league. Most of those guys could get you 20 ppg. A lot of guys today can’t score with traveling
arguing that the game was better back then is like arguing that an NES is better than a PS5 because your daddy got one for you on christmas morning in 1987 and it was the happiest day of your life. personal connections have nothing to do with the objective value of the product. how about this for a hot take: the product is no longer for you. you've aged out of it. the way we age out of all popular trends as we mature and become adults with other things to worry about. "not getting it" anymore just means you're growing up. let the younger generation have their version of the product and move on.
I stopped watching the NBA 15 years ago. Maybe it's lack of enthusiasm. No it's more than that it's boring as hell. There is no real coaching and if it is the players are not listening. It's like going to school teachers teach students learn.
No one wants to see a 3 point shooting contest in every game. Boring.
All star weekend every week 😂
3 point shooting and still they get injured...
Yall dont actually watch the games lol
Or free throw contest. This is an officiating problem.
Why NBA is dying:
- 3 point contest/Brickfest/Airball Fest
- Entitled players
- Dramatic players
- Lazy defenses
- Terrible calls / Refs
- Teams getting constantly blownout every game
- Terrible Media
And the list goes on...
plus traveling non-calls. Those step(s)-back threes popularized by Harden, then copied by Curry, Doncic, Tatum are illegal and ugly af.
- allowing blatant partisan political preferences to be espoused
- too much player control
- changing rules to clearly benefit one player's 'legacy'
- gimmicky additions that NO ONE asked for and no one likes
- weak leadership from the CINO (commissioner in name only)
- and lastly - klutch sports
Load management, no rivalries, no physicality, terrible all star game, too much wokeness
Wow hundred percent true!!! Gone are the Golden years of basketball where everybidy wants to be like mike, kobe, ai, vince, lebron etc. Also, players nowadays play for the sake of money not to win.
and politics.
Regardless of what your political opinions are, from a business perspective it is ALWAYS dumb to alienate 50 % of your potential clients.
The goofy narrative where NBA players from back in the day wouldn't cut it today has to stop. They're still tall, skilled guys. They would just train for the way the game is played today. Please stap it
Bingo. FG% was lower because they could actually play defense back then. The players from that era would DESTROY any team today because they were much tougher and faced tougher challenges. Yes, the increased number of 3s today COMBINED with no one playing defense (which is actually circular) means better percentages from 3 and higher scores overall. shame on the OP for trying to paint some false narrative about older generations. I guarantee that in 20-30 years, the nba top 75 will still be mostly pre-2000s players and they occupy most of the top spots. MJ will still be the GOAT and lebron will be forgotten.
Preach it! This was a trash take and people are letting him know! Just look at the comments. Terrible video!
Exactly! I stopped lid to this guy once he said that smh
100%
EXACTLY!!!
Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but This was terrible dude.
Oh yeah, explain?
This is a terrible take. Has to be a joke.
U have the personality of a dead moth
@@SCARLEMSCARS You still have not explained
How can you compare the shooting averages from the 90s and today? There used to be hard fouls and ferocious defense played. There's literally no defense in today's league. That's why the shooting average is so much higher.
When was the last time you watched a full game from the 90's from start to finish?
Horrible take. You're calling fans dumb and not to believe their eyes.
It really is a horrible take. And assuming the players of the 90s were not skilled smh
@@deejonharris1339 That's not what I said. I said the talent pool on the whole is more skilled today than it was of the past. Just go watch a full game from the 90's and the talent in aggregate is not what it is today.
@@And.One.Hoops1people don’t have to go watch a full game from the 90’s… WE WERE THERE! kids these days. WOKE politics killed the league and you won’t even mention it. Enjoy your league on a CHINA stream while making rigged bets on draftkings.
@And.One.Hoops1 what do you consider skilled? Do you consider Jokic skilled? Players in the 70s, 80s, and 90s have way more fundamentals than today.
Listen, I’m a 90’s super fan, I LOVED 90’s basketball. But I can’t in good conscience say the league AS A WHOLE was more skilled then than it is now. Anybody who goes back and watches the games will see why. That’s not a knock on players of the past, that literally can apply to ANY sport when you compare it today from 30-40 years ago. As humans, we evolve and get better at every craft, especially with the advances of medicine and sports technology. It’s only natural players will get better at the game. Just because you don’t like the way they play, doesn’t mean they’re less skilled
Honestly I can’t believe you are trying to defend this garbage product lol
League ratings are tanking and somehow modern basketball is a better product. Cope
@@HushHushOG lol yea because a "better product" leads to tanking ratings ..
@@kd-zq5oq There are A LOT of problems with the NBA today that need to be fixed, which I called out. But fans are exaggerating the product and a lot of is social media based narratives that take on a life of it's own
This guy doesn't know CHIT about basketball saying "today's are more skilled". Just watching Dennis Rodman rack up rebounds was more exciting than today's top talent.
Totally agree. What he considers "More skilled today" would be violations in past eras. Guys constantly travel, carry, double dribble and offensive push off and then flop and a foul is called on the defense.
It's like saying a cornerback in football is more skilled, yet every pass play he commits pass interference that is uncalled
Players in aggregate are more skilled today than they used to be. Not “all players are more skilled than all players back in the day.” On the whole, the talent pool is higher than 30 years ago
Skilled at glazing eachother doesn’t count
They are more skilled, but its because they have access to better training and equipment.
Its also the reason why the game isnt as fun to watch, everyone can shoot now so games have become a 3 point contest :/
@@DoctorMarshall7 Yep.....doesn't make my statement untrue. They are more skilled today on the whole regardless
Not another NBA UA-camr telling use it’s our fault we don’t like the NBA. I’m so over these dudes
Lol ok
@ Don’t worry if enough people stop watching the NBA then they’ll probably stop watching NBA UA-cam too. You guys can enjoy this league without us or our unimportant feedback lmao
@@And.One.Hoops1 it rigged and scripted im laughing it failing😂
U prolly watch the wnba don’t worry nba still the 2nd best sports league in North America and the wnba is redundant
@@carboy101 We will, thanks
Don't care about stats. Its the eye test. Stats is what caused load management and three point barrage. Give us some real players that care about the game, Anthony Edwards.
yea i hate when people bring up all those stat arguments like people really give af realistically at least 80-90% of nba watchers are casuals who don’t even know those stats😂
Ants not even a Fan. He doesn't know Shit about the NBA and he's got overrated. He's nowhere close to MJ.
Sir I’m sorry but this is way out of touch!
How?
You lost me at the "inferior players of the past" take.
Their work ethic was impecable. They would have easily adjusted to today's game.
Bad take.
Thumbs down.
Players of today work just as hard too
@@coreythomas3633 I don't even have to disagree. :)
So, we agree. Players from the past wouldn't be "inferior", today.
@@coreythomas3633 Come on, bro. WTF are you even talking about?
IMO the problem is the NBA has gotten too greedy with broadcasting. There are cities where its cheaper to get league pass than it is to watch their own team on TV. Don't even get me started on the multiple streaming packages needed to watch national games. The interest is there and growing, but actual NBA basketball has never been less accessible. If the NBA counted streameast numbers they'd see their peaking in viewers if anything
U hit the nail on the head. I have UA-cam TV. I live in Chicago. I was able to watch the bulls and nearby teams like Bucks and 76ers daily. But now it wont even let me watch the bulls(the area where im from) and it barely lets me watch any games now. Some days it wont even let me watch basketball at all even when games are gone. So stupid. Havent watched one Bulls game this year and bars are having trouble with it too. I might get leagur pass buy damn I dont want to drop more money.
Last year I could watch games fine. Now I barely can see games. They do throw in good games here and there but its way worse than last year
Preeeeeeach
They’re*
You could also count additional streameast numbers for NFL, redzone, etc. Games on national TV still hitting lows in ratings
It’s so boring nowadays... 3 pointer after 3 pointer after 3 pointer after 3 pointer .
Comparing Eras in Basketball (or sports in general) without comparing Rules is great foolishness, especially when trying to make the case for modern era being "better or more skilled"
I'm curious, when was the last time you re-watched a game from 90's and saw the overall talent pool from top to bottom? How does it look compared to the 12 man rosters of today?
Blowouts are so common now, starters resting in the third quarter. Hand Check and emphasis on defense needs to be added in order to make threes more difficult and punishing teams for pulling players early
This video is trash. Did not hear anything about floor spacing. Content like this is what ruined Basketball for me.
I literally called out floor spacing. Listen better next time
For me it's just that every fucking team is pretty much the same. OKC does play defense, but by in large every team is trying to do the same thing. Like in the NFL has the Lions, Ravens, Chiefs, and Bills and all of those teams play different styles of basketball. I've watched less basketball this year than I have ever.
I hate to say it but I think the idea that people just can't watch a two hour game is cope for the NBA. The NFL ratings are going up and people will say "yeah, but that's the NFL." College Football Ratings are going up. Then they'll go "Well that's just football" The MLB ratings were the highest they have been in seven years. The Premier league hit a record for NBC last year. The WNBA could be a flash in the pan due to Clark, but when you've got so many leagues that are doing better than in previous years I have a hard time saying "People just don't want to watch TV anymore."
The NFL has pretty significant rule changes almost every year and points of emphasis ever year. The MLB just had cataclysmic changes to it's game. Change is the only way to fix this. They've got to find a way to diversify the style of play. Whether that's removing the corner 3 or something else they've got to make changes.
Yeah ngl a lot of this video felt like cope or a NBA paid for ad. “There’s nothing wrong with todays game yall are just nostalgic and listening to social media”💀 I do think some things are overhated but come on bruh what is fun about watching teams jack up 100 3s when they aren’t even good at shooting them 😑 be fr. Got great dynamic athletes settling for step back 3s but sure that’s so fun to watch
Then why are other leagues growing if people are generally distracted with short form nonsense?
They aren't......NHL and baseball rating are up YoY, but they're still down overall. NFL is flat
8:11 ok so with this logic, why is it that the NFL is setting ratings records while the NBA is having one of its worst ratings runs ever? You can’t say “people have short attention spans” and can’t watch 2h30m games when not only are NFL games an entire 1 hour longer, but people are constantly tuning in and can watch these games without the same “distractions” that you mentioned? Like even the Bears/Lions Thanksgiving game was the most watched Thanksgiving game in league history, and the Bears STINK!
Bad take.
16 games vs 82 game season….big difference my guy
@@And.One.Hoops1 NBA post season is also facing record low numbers.
The stratification of our culture means ratings across the board are down - cable news, movie tickets, etc. People are too busy scrolling on social media or UA-cam to watch 82 regular season games.
Yep, exactly
I agree, although I'll watch the NBA if my team is winning
You’re forgetting politics buddy. People are sick of millionaires telling them anything political! While most of them barely passed high school. Tf is LeBron gonna be saying anything when every time they take a picture of him with a book he’s on page 1! Does the guy even read?
I would agree with you if not for the fact that every other sports league has seen ratings increases. Even baseball saw its highest viewership numbers in a decade this past season and that was the regular season. NBA’s problem is not societal, it’s NBA
@@andrewschmidt1566 exactly!!! This video should be taken down for misinformation 😂
If there was so much attention disorder than why are other sports gaining attention and viewership! I mean look at Formula 1! Massive boom in numbers. Because we don’t have “stars” preaching us on what to do!
Im sorry, but this was brought about like Steph Curry. The success of the Warriors brought this about, and Iman Shumpert said it best, "The problem isnt that you shoot alot of 3pts, its the fact you think you're Curry."
Yes and no. Steph and the Warriors brought in the era of small ball and every team since then has been trying to perfectly execute what the Warriors did. The problem isn't about just about the 3s. What's the fun in watching basketball if everyone is just running small ball lineup and fumbling the ball or bricking 3s? At its best, small ball is amazing as the Warriors showed in the 2010s. At its worst, it's close to unwatchable.
Blaming the Warriors and Steph for this is like blaming someone else for being better than you at work. There's always deeper problems than that. Think critically.
@@tirosc You're completely right, Golden State was an amazing team because of chemistry, ball movement pacing and perimeter defense. Teams only replicated the shooting
@@bamidelakin-np2ub The three point shooting influx is a factor, but the NBA is still doing very well. NBA is currently king of social media. The issue is getting fans in front of televisions. It's no longer the 80s/90s. Fans have more than 8 channels
Not really. That takes responsibility away from the other teams and their management. The Warriors did a few things differently that lead to their success and 3 point shooting, IMO, was the least significant aspect of their success. They ran the Princeton offense, which was something that got Mike Brown fired for when he tried it years earlier in LA and had the media bashing him for trying it. Now off ball movement is the new meta of the league, and in that regard the game is better for it. The Warriors also put together lineups with versatile defenders who could switch on defense for every position in the game. As much as everyone wants to focus on their 3 point shooting, the Warriors were a top 5 defensive team in the NBA for every one of their finals appearances. That's something that has been true of nearly every team to win the title over the last 40 years.
The Warriors have the 2 best shooters in NBA history on their team. Why wouldn't they utilize that? The problem is that for all of the good things, that can be replicated without too much trouble, the other teams tried to copy the volume 3 point shooting. Which only works because.....they had the 2 best shooters in the history of the game. That's just bad management. When you couple that along with the universal trend of falling head over heels for metrics, then you wind up with a bad product.
Why metrics are bad: Some are good. Others are terrible, and without the ability to apply proper context to the metric, they can be misleading. "The mid range shot is the worst shot in basketball". No. A rushed shot is the worst in basketball. The interpretation of the metric is that you should always just jack up a 3 if you have any amount of space. In reality, if you have to rush that shot, it's got a very low chance of going in. If you pump fake, get the defender to jump by you and take one dribble inside the line, shoot in rhythm, are wide open with plenty of time, the mid range shot is a MUCH better shot than the 3. Truthfully, no metric can predict a good shot or a bad shot. The best shot in the game of basketball has always, and will always be, the most wide open shot with the most amount of time to shoot it. Defensive win shares is a terrible stat. Bad defenders playing on good defensive teams lead the league in defensive win shares. Last year KAT was 9th in the league in defensive win shares. Damien Lilllard was in the top 30. Everyone knows they are bad defensive players.
Sorry but blaming Steph and the Warriors for this mess is a bad take. Teams have to take responsibility for adopting metrics without understanding what to listen to and what to filter out, and chasing a trend that shouldn't be chased. It's great that players are focusing more on shooting. Players should always shoot open 3's if they have the time and are not rushing a shot. But trying to force 3 point shots is bad for the league and the Warriors and Steph Curry are not the coach's responsible for the 29 other teams poor decision making.
@@tirosc literally his entire point “think critically” head as
Some of the offensive increase in efficiency is shooting and ball handling getting better, but some of it is the changes to the rules around hand checking and how they call fouls making it harder to play defense. The game makes it too hard to play defense at the moment based on the rules, allowing a bit more physicality by defenses would help.
The embarrassing part is player's today who people claim to be more athletic has no versatility in their game & are extremely predictable
I kinda agree but I also don’t hear this discourse with other sports. Ratings aren’t down in other sports. The playstyle and the lack of care teams put into the regular season matters. The fact that there’s no dynasties also kills casual interest. Jokic isn’t a good face of the league because he’s zero drama or flash. It’ll rebalance but the 2020s will be looked at as a dark age for the NBA like the 70s were.
Facts this is like the dark ages of the nba
Show me another athlete that has as little control over themselves as lebron does when it comes to posting pretty much any nonsense that wanders through that wasteland he calls his head. Did Tom Brady do that? Does Shohei Otahni do that? Does lionel Messi do that? no. they shut up and play the game. And THAT'S why ratings are down.
2:34 “Nostalgia - its delicate, but potent. In Greek nostalgia literally means ‘the pain from an old wound.’ It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone.” - Don Draper
Laziness is the main reason for all the threes. I don’t hear that enough. A lot less effort and physical exhaustion to just throw up threes.
No the rules changes to increase high scoring
That is why you see 7 plus foot guys jacking up 3s, they have to run less and don't have to face the physical inside play, leave that physical stuff to 6-4 skinny guards who can run up and down the court all night!
This video was approved by Adam Silver. I get your take and the stats that you are adding to support your it but there was something about the NBA in the 90s, that is why is considered the golden era. It is not only 3 pointers, load management, or player apaty. For me it was the rivaries that created the story lines. I was always excited to watch Bulls vs Knicks, or vs Pacers. There was a sence of pride to crush your opponent. Today seems, to eye of many fans, like the all friends league. Also, the stunt that LeBron pulled with his son was another reason fans are not watching.
more aggressive defense = lower shooting percentage. not too difficult a concept to grasp.
Exactly 😂
The NBA Cup has made the early NBA so impossible to watch.
I'm a Nuggets fans, but for my team it feels like we are playing one game at week. We play one... then 3 days off... We play another game...4 days off... we play one day... 6 days without playing.
It's ridiculous. Since the NBA Cup i feel like i'm watching less basketball than ever because every time i feel like watching a game there not games being play or just 2 or 3 games instead of the usual 7 to 9 games allowing me to pick what i want to watch.
This NBA Cup schedule is terrible. Too many pauses, and you got the tournament then a in between regular games, then a cup game, then 9 regualar games, then semis of NBA Cup. which makes teams who aren't on the tournament spend like 20 days of resting at home with no basketball being play or long break between games
Refs are a big problem. The fact that you can get a tech for giving someone the side eye is wild.
I see a logical flaw in your argument: more points = better game. I don’t agree with that! What’s wrong with good defense? A game with 93 ppg and 44% shooting can still be a good game. The problem is, casual fans don’t understand defense. To me, all those mindless shots being jacked up is boring. Personally, I don’t mind watching games where the score is below 100 points.
ratings have been horrible and the teams that have been taking 10 billion 3s are usually good so there is no on-court reason to stop, i hope ratings keep going down and the league gets put in a tough spot so the players will actually care about the game and putting a good product out there instead of just getting contracts
Implement a 5 second violation instead of 3 seconds and a 3 second offensive violation outside the 3 point line
Interesting
More skilled? Better shooting of the three pointer? Slightly better due to the focus of it. Wouldn’t say that makes them more skilled. 1.4% better.. smh
• 1980s: 28.9%
• 1990s: 34.7%
• 2000s: 35.6%
• 2010s: 35.6%
• 2020s: 36.1%
3’s on much higher volume….there’s a difference. Also, more skilled doesn’t just mean shooting 3’s at a higher clip
The narrator is working for the NBA
I am not, no
the point is... that the game isn't what it used to be, thanks for the content.
You have trouble with comprehension
@@And.One.Hoops1 😹 fans are responding accordingly, cheers!~
Just say you didn’t watch the whole video and move on
@ i hear your point, but thats all it is. The fans have spoken they dont like what they see. Sure NBA aint dead just too comfortable. Appreciate the content.
That’s fair
This is crazy if you put a team today in the 1990s they couldn't deal with the physical play. The NBA was more popular with the scores in the 90s because the players played hard on the defensive end.
The NBA has gone all in with appealing to casual fans and trying to push a narrative of excitement. When I was a kid, learning the game, the broadcasters like Stu Lantz, Doug Collins, and Hubbie Brown would break down calls and plays and explain what was happening. This took me from being an uneducated casual fan, to someone who truly loved the game because I could understand it. Now the NBA lets people travel, let's players commit offensive fouls every game, and even when the terrible officiating gets completely exposed on replay review, just keeps letting it happen. Refs never get suspended or fired. It's extremely rare when a bad call even gets publicly acknowledged.
IMO the NBA has 2 big problems. The first being that the game has terrible, and I mean worst in all of professional sports terrible officiating. WWE referee's have a better reputation for officiating than NBA refs. The second being educating it's casual fan base into knowledgeable fans. It's OK to appeal to casuals. Highlights and short form content will always be able to attract casual fans. But if the NBA wants to retain those fans, it needs to educate them about the game. It needs to stop insulting the intelligence of the viewer and address the officiating. If you have never seen a basketball game in your life, you watch a game, the ref makes a bad call on someone who is 3 feet away from the person who they committed a "foul" against, and there is a replay, where anyone who can rub two brain cells together can see that the defender never touched the guy, and somehow the replay doesn't overturn the bad call, that's going to turn people away. Casual fans come and go, they have a short attention span and really only care about highlights. Trying to turn the game into a 2 and a half hour highlight reel isn't the answer. If every play is a highlight, then nothing is a highlight. The NBA needs to teach it's fans about the nuance of the game. So that they can enjoy the little things when a play isn't going to lead to a dunk or a 3, but the fan can see something happening and understand what's about to happen in the next 10 seconds because of what they are watching.
In order to educate the fans, the NBA has to clean up it's officiating. People who don't understand the game that well know that it's bad. People who have been watching for decades have a hard time even making it to the end of a game because it's so bad. Educating casual fans while leaving the officiating unaddressed will just cause more people to quit watching. I honestly feel like the NBA is sports entertainment at this point. It's not even a true sport any longer. It's on the same level as professional wrestling.
NBA should implement, no game no pay for the players! Or if u got injured u only get 1/3 of ur salary
This direct comparison of era's stats is dumb. 3 defensive seconds rule, no hand check, carrying the ball, traveling...
The regular season games sometimes look like sunday fitness games.
Schemes have improved, no doubt. But many of today's players wouldn't blossom so much if the paint wasn't that open.
Game lacks intensity. The three pointers are not boring, but playing "long game" with three pointers (jacking them up knowing it will benefit long term) has taken out the passion of the moment
Make players today play with the dribbling rules in the 90s I bet a lot of that “skill” disappears real fast. I think a lot of people contribute way too much credit to players and not enough credit to the rules changing for the evolution of the game. The amount of carrying and traveling that happens today is insane and it allows them to do so much more than players could do back in the day
@darrellwilliams9168 exactly. Plus, how harder would be to maintain dribble and drives with hand checking.
But I think the factor of "long game" is actually the one that is killing it the most. Threes are being jacked up with having math in game. In other words, today's NBA is more about scoring with having long term results in a game than fighting for each basket
While I get your point about comparing defensive ratings across eras, it's not as simple as just looking at the numbers. The average defensive rating in the 1990s was 106, but the style of play, rules, and offensive strategies were completely different back then. Teams in the 90s faced more iso-heavy, post-up offenses, whereas today’s defenses have to deal with pace-and-space, three-point shooting, and faster ball movement. A team like the Magic might have an average to above average raw defensive rating by 90s standards, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’d be as effective in that era. Defensive ratings are really relative to the challenges of their time, so comparing them without context can be misleading.
I always like and agree with most of the things you share, but I'm not nostalgic at all. I'm 26 so I have nothing to be nostalgic for. Context was different so we can't compare eras the way you're doing it. The game is better when players play defense. And that narrative "The players are so good so now is almost impossible to defend' is not true. Alex Caruso played one of the most impressive defensive performances vs Kevin Durant being overwhelmingly undersized against him. Boston Celtics played D, against Dallas and figured out a way to stop one of the most if not the best offensive duos in the NBA. Playbooks are virtually the same thing for all teams... And I can keep going. That's not the problem, the problem is trying to sell highlights and not a game with strategies.
6:17 the actual issues
but the previous issues are just as bad, its not just nostalgia its clear a decline when players don't care cause they're rich, no brand loyalty to team, no rivalries, no real feuds, no competition cause the opponent will be your teammate next year, the problem of those misses is the game is more 3 point focus for no reason
Trying to use stats and data to prove your points about the NBA proves the point that stats and data ruined the NBA. My eyeballs telle it sucks now. Threes, free throws, Carry's, travels and flops. That is why ratings are down.
I would also add the lack of team identity because of players changing teams chasing rings or money.
There are no good incentives for players to stay in one team, if they can just cumplain, stop playing, and forcing a trade.
I believe there should be huge incentives for players to stay in one place, and the difference between a min and a max contract shouldn't be so much.
Now there's basically no middle class. There's just stars and fillers. There's hardly any chance for historical rivalries if all teams are different each year.
I know how to fix this:
1. Make dunking 3 points. Keep the 2 point the 2 point and 3 point the three point. Dunking is harder than 3s especially on good defensive teams and also you would FINALLY bring back the presence of the big man. Plus it’s just EXCITING
2. Teams need to take a different approach to paying players. They need to pay their players like fighting does meaning they make a base pay such as 5 million dollars base then they have the potential too win 10 million with win/performance bonuses.
Paying players before they perform doesn’t work. Unless you have a Steph or a LeBron where they CLEARLY DESERVE THE GUARANTEED PAY.
3. Players would be required to play a minimum of 65 games to qualify to play in the playoffs. Period. Unless there is an injury that would be deemed unplayable then the NBA needs to step in and oversee the rehab and doctors for unplayable injury’s to determine whether players can play or can’t. If a players feels he can’t play even after the NBA has deemed him eligible he’s has 17 games to tell the nba to fuck off. But allowing teams to oversee the injury’s and allowing coaching staffs to do load management is complete bullshit. At the end of the day the teams and the NBA have a quality of product to sell
The NBA is dying for one reason: TEAMS DON'T MATTER ANYMORE. I've said it many times before. The death knell for the NBA was the moment LeBron James pulled an ESPN interview and announced that he was taking his talents to South Beach. Since then, players felt compelled to try to engineer their own super team instead of teams constructing actual teams with well-defined roles. Back in the day, a player like Buck Williams could have a long career just by being a rebounding specialist. A PG could have a long career just by being a reliable ball handler and making sure the offense ran smoothly. Now, everyone has to try to be an offensive superstar who can do it all no matter what position they get pencilled into in the lineup. It's all hero-ball all the time. You fix it in part by adding 2 more teams to get to 32 and then creating smaller Divisions within each Conference and making Division Winners get an automatic Playoff berth and 1st Round home playoff series just like the NFL does.
You contradict yourself! First, defense is not what it used to be, no handcheck. Then players score more efficiently today... DUH! Please, talk golf!!!
Solution:
1. Improve officiating
2. Make the 3 point shot only worth 2.5 points
10 % of the teams are trying to win the title while the rest try to win the lottery pick
The only way the NBA can fix the three-point problem is by holding these players accountable. I think the best proposal is for every three-point shot taken…if you miss, -1 point gets deducted and taken off the board. It’ll make these guys think twice about chucking up 3’s with no conscious if they’re hurting their team. Silver won’t do anything like this bc he doesn’t have any balls, but they should and it would be effective.
If they brought back hand checking, it would cut these threes in half.
This is a good video getting a lot of unfair hate and sass. The overall message is so true and it's impacting far more than NBA basketball
Thank you! Yes, I think a lot of people are missing the point and simply following what's trending in NBA discourse
Glad to see the channel doing well . But we need you on Bulls central my guy
I've been on both my man! Posting more on Bulls Central
@And.One.Hoops1 can you please bring back the old song
It is amazing that we are not supposed to believe our lying eye again.
Stats never factor in the result of the physical aspect of the game. When you get bodied up and pulled from the tip off til the end of the game it carries an intimidation factor. So teams would have adjust and overcome. Today's game allows guys to enter the paint on a drive unmolested that didnot happen in the day. That carries weight if you've ever played any at all. But it's not a Stat but it's fact.
You forgot tanking. My team is one of the most successful in NBA history and once made the playoffs 20+ years in a row. They have been tanking the last 3 years. Who wants to watch that?
What’s fun to watch about the nba ? Like what are some positives?
Horrible take..
Lol ok
I don't think players are more skilled today because they don't play defense like players from the past. Many games (especially all star games) are unwatchable now because no one is trying to stop anyone from scoring.
There is a way to stop teams from shooting too many 3's. The NBA can limit the amount of 3' pointers that will count as 3's in each game. After a team shoots over that amount all shots should be counted as 2 point shots. Even shots taken from behind the 3 point line. Problem solved.
Very interesting elements to ponder. Thanks. Also simple access to watching the games is a real problem!
I do agree with access to the games, which I should have called out in the video
I dislike seeing players get affectionate with the opposing teams before the games. A simple handshake or fist-bump is more appropriate.
Also why doesn’t this attention span affect the NFL or the NBA or hell even college basketball ? lol
One game a week vs 3-4. Regular season in the NBA is too long devaluing the meaning of each game
@@And.One.Hoops1 MLB has 6 games a week and it's still fun to watch.
No….it is not
also the 30 different jerseys every team has these days and the weird ads plastered all over the court just makes everything so soulless and shows how they just cosmetically change everything trying to fix massive underlying mechanical issues
EDIT: ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS EVER CREATED
Holy smokes this blew away all my expectations.
Before i watch this probably wrong video, heres the FACTUAL reasons why "ratings are down" ( they arent actually but let's go)
1. Literally cant watch your own teams anymore. This is 90% of the reason. Everything else just emotion based and wrong
2. LeBron needs to retire. Hes poisoned every ounce of the NBA sphere and needs to go ASAP
3. Soft Officiating which prevents players from playing defense like they should. Stupid techs. Tossing players out for nothin
2 and 3 are only 10% of the reason whereas not showing the friggen games is obviously the biggest reason for the fall off
I have been a league pass subscriber since 2013 and terminated it since last season. My personal problem with these 2 years and further is how the current CBA has lowered the quality of basketball. Watching teams with all-stars that performed and win championships only to become average due to budget problems and turn that championship team to become an average team is such a turn-off. I don't blame just the CBA, it's the GMs that can't adapt to change, it's the coaches that can't utilize the new players, it's the players who can't execute the play, absolutely. But you also can't argue how the CBA just doesn't gel well with the ever-increasing player contracts and supermax contracts.
The players are definitely more skilled today I agree better programs and better science to develop from a young her age. Where I find the problem with the league is that every game looks the same. 98% of teams run the same offense. The players in the golden eras had better mindset and discipline because they weren’t getting the bag like players now and their roles were more defined. But ratings don’t lie my man 48% down since 2012. Politics, load management, way too many 3s, players flopping and complaining after every call, commercials during free throws, more fouls called. Want me to continue? Also, dude all the advanced analytics ruin the sport the don’t make a good argument. It has to pass the eye test.
Overwatch and marvel rivals a good example of good past experiences
Some Changes are good but some are bad
I can't believe the coaches just be watching and not pulling them off the court
Bring back hand checking and physical defense. Makes it more fun to watch.
I remember back in the 2000s each team had their own style, something to take advantage of the type players they had to work for the system that fit them. The Pistons would play hard nose defense to make up for their lack of offense. The Suns would run that famous 7 second offense off a made or miss shot. Orlando would play inside out with Dwight and Hedo and Rashard Lewis. Utah would still be running the pick and roll offense with Boozer and Williams. The Lakers had the triangle offense with Shaq/Pau and Kobe. Roll players currently are more talented than the roll players from the past, it's still doesn't make up for that the only identity that most teams bring is "this team shoots a lot of 3s and have good wing defenders". The only teams that I can think of that bring their own unique style that separates themselves from the rest of the league are probably the Warrior's with their ball movement and maybe the Lakers with their focus on scoring at the rim and getting fouls to make up for their lack of perimeter shooting. I still watch the games but man I can only watch a team run a 3 on 1 fast break for it to end on a 3 point shot so many times before I turn it off. When I first started watching basketball you had players being so creative with how they would score. Yes I understand hero ball isn't for "analytics" but I'm not watching to see a player take the best percentage shot and more efficient shot. I'm trying to watch for entertainment. It was fun back when Kobe used to make crazy ridiculous shots, Iverson crossing over bigger defenders, Wade making circus shots or Dwight posting up and setting up someone for a dunk.
Few days later the Celtics came out and shot 46 3s, on their own. Missed 4 out of 5, but just kept chucking em. 22 point second half. This isn't basketball. My issue is definitely missing the midrange and post game. It's not nostalgia. It's reality.
I feel like the NBA is going through what happened to the NHL and MLB. All the stars retired and none were born. Its just average players now. I guess the same could even be said about WWE.
If im playing and its non pro street game. All im doing is mainly jacking up 3s and camped at the three point line with no defence or very little. My teammates would ask me to leave or im replaced. But the nba rewards players for this
The only solution: get rid of the three point line.... oh and 3 in the key on defense is moronic.
The ratings are down because nba games are not shown on regular T.V anymore
New Rule. Each team gets 5 three pt attempts each period. Each one they miss subtracts from the allotment of 5. If they make it, then they still retain their allotment of 5. If a team misses 5 3pter in any given period, every made shot past the 3pt line is counted as 2pts.
If people today were around the NBA of old they would be miserable and complain even more. We live in a time where the league has the most amount of parody it ever has. The problem is we live in a society where negativity is the default and almost celebrated. While there are certainly problems with the game currently there are problems in every era and it’s disingenuous to paint the NBA of old as this golden standard because the people have nostalgia bias and it is blatantly obvious .
Biggest issue is inconsistent refereeing, refs constantly have their thumb on the scales with what they call and don't call. They also need to start enforcing some of the rules, like carrying and traveling.
MAGNETICS AND 3'S KILLING THE NBA
If you consider whats on the court today as "more talented" than you are clearly living in an alternate universe. No athletes needed no defense required, Just check in and run to the 3 point line. Give em the old "wheres the help?" on defense and rinse repeat
this is a very shallow low level analysis
Oh yeah, how so?
Higher points per game doesn’t equal higher efficiency.
This is so bad dude- you should seriously delete the video and re think this over lol
Except they literally score more points on high efficiency
He's all over the p)ace with his analysis...He seems to be defending the current NBA and yet he criticizes it..
IMO they should get rid of the 3 point and change it to a 2 pointer
They should only count them as 3's for the last 2 minutes of the 1st half and 2nd half. Kind of like how the rules change for the last 2 minutes of the half in football. They will count as 2's the rest of the time.
simple answer. branding. nba doesn’t have a face at the moment. they need a hero.
There’s no more showtime. There was a time where I would lose my mind if I missed one second of a laker game when Magic was playing. Please don’t let it be a game against Boston Celtics with bird. I would sell my first born to watch that game. Straight ahead basketball, good Competition, exciting personalities (dr. J), fair refs., stop being so concerned about personal stats and compete (like Lonzo), stop the belly aching and flops. These are my ingredients to improving the nba.
Every player tried to be Step Curry and every single team trying hard to be the Golden States Warriors. The problem is , they are not.
I stop tuning in the NBA since seven footers start shooting threes for no reason. NBA deserve its current sorrowful state.
The biggest issue is they think one player should be the face of the league! Jordan became the face of the league. Before him and after it was all about rivalries!
Could you imagine the 2017 Rockets vs. the 96 bulls lmaoo 😂
They need to make 3-point count as 3 only for the team behind, to add more excitement keeping the game close. #nerfthe3pointshot
I do not agree. Players definitely do not give two rats about the regular season. If they do not give a dam, why should we? Plus the effects of the three ball revolution where now shooting as much threes as possible is the goal for every team, makes the game very robotic and less diverse... I would not blame social media for this. Because even if that was true, we will not solve the problem. The people would still rather scroll than watching NBA. The solution is making the game more interesting. And that starts with the players. They are he ones who need to care for the game, so that the audience can also care with them.
It's because officiating is out of control. You cant defend without comitting a foul. Anything at the basket just results in boring free throws. Until the refs start biasing one team. Also 3:20 go eat a bag of glizzies.
Da F are glizzies?
I agree that all-star format still sucks but you can't deny the NBA cup success as least from the perspective of players giving a crap and actually trying hard.
Dude blamed the ratings crash on fans pretty much.
Even if you have a point with data and facts mattering in terms of offensive efficiency and defensive robustness, the NBA exists as an entertainment product, and, as a product, it's simply not good value right now when there's so much else to watch. Also, as bad as incessant threes 5 seconds into a shot clock and matador defenses are, the load management is an insult to the fanbase after you pay hundreds for tickets, a babysitter, $40 to park, and $14 for a beer because analytics says that a 23 year old kid who is hardly taking any punishment in today's soft game can't play back-to-backs when making 300k a week.
First time I heard of the NBA cup I knew they were trying to compete with football, now with College football competing with NFL going to be tough for NBA
Man fans don’t care about the data, we know what we like and don’t like. The state the game is in sucks. And yall have to stop saying guys from back in the day were not as talented as guys today. Those guys sacrifice their game to make and stay in the league. Most of those guys could get you 20 ppg. A lot of guys today can’t score with traveling
arguing that the game was better back then is like arguing that an NES is better than a PS5 because your daddy got one for you on christmas morning in 1987 and it was the happiest day of your life. personal connections have nothing to do with the objective value of the product.
how about this for a hot take: the product is no longer for you. you've aged out of it. the way we age out of all popular trends as we mature and become adults with other things to worry about. "not getting it" anymore just means you're growing up. let the younger generation have their version of the product and move on.
I stopped watching the NBA 15 years ago. Maybe it's lack of enthusiasm. No it's more than that it's boring as hell. There is no real coaching and if it is the players are not listening. It's like going to school teachers teach students learn.