NBA situation has gotten ugly...

[GardenOrange]

Yup- was REALLY looking forward to this.
Melo at the Mecca would've been must-see TV this season!:bang:

Wasn't the Mecca in Milwaukee?

 

[weir]

NBA has turned into WWE. it's scripted and entertainment based. 6 Fouls/bs zone. Just feels scripted.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Wasn't the Mecca in Milwaukee?

Wow...you just blew my mind!

 

[Zelda Zonk]

NBA has turned into WWE. it's scripted and entertainment based. 6 Fouls/bs zone. Just feels scripted.

What am i missing?
NBA. 6 fouls. 48 minutes. 1 per 8 minutes.
NCAA. 5 fouls. 40 minutes. 1 per 8 minutes.

BS zone? What does that mean?

Scripted? In what way? You don't believe they're competing?

You people act like the NBA is comprised of a value-less group of players entirely separate from the NCAA. We're talking about people like Warrick, Rautins, Wes, Carmelo, Flynn... What changed after they left the Hill?

 

[pfister1]

This sucks.

And all the owners that took tax payer dollars to build their stadiums? Nice job guys.

Yes, this is the owners simply trying to break the union. I am sad there won't be any hoops for a awhile, but I hope the players take the owners to the cleaners in court.

Tax payer dollars never should have been spent on stadium projects in the first place. If owners want to play musical cities with their franchises let them. The tax payer doesn't get enough out of the investment.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Welp, looks like I'm off to join a Fantasy WNBA league. Who's with me?

Or a Fantasy Euro or Chinese league.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I like college hoops infinitely more than the NBA, but you can't claim to be a true basketball fan if you didn't enjoy almost every minute of the Finals with the Heat and the Mavs.

 

[realorange]

I like college hoops infinitely more than the NBA, but you can't claim to be a true basketball fan if you didn't enjoy almost every minute of the Finals with the Heat and the Mavs.

But, did you enjoy every minute of the whole season? I think not.

The NBA season is far too long. Even the most talented players and teams are not going to try their best every night out. When you know you can make the playoffs with a few half-hearted efforts, you will coast. I don't know about you, but I hate to watch players who are obviously not trying to do their best

Compare that to college BB. How many nights off do you get if you want to succeed? Or even play if JB is your coach?

 

[SmilinBob]

What are the drafted rookies doing for money? Sneaker deals and what else?

 

[OttoMets]

But, did you enjoy every minute of the whole season? I think not.

The NBA season is far too long. Even the most talented players and teams are not going to try their best every night out. When you know you can make the playoffs with a few half-hearted efforts, you will coast. I don't know about you, but I hate to watch players who are obviously not trying to do their best

Compare that to college BB. How many nights off do you get if you want to succeed? Or even play if JB is your coach?

Agreed. I guess I'm opening Pandora's box by a.) comparing two different levels of basketball and b.) admitting that I don't watch much NBA ball, but it's hard not to make a value judgment on two different scenarios:

2010, last week of the seaon. Syracuse is #1 in the country and likely has a top seed in the tournament locked up. We get a raucous 27,000 for our final home game (and paying fans see maximum effort from our players), then see a sell-out in Louisville (and get maximum effort from both teams).

Any year, last week of the season for the top team in the Eastern or Western Conference in the NBA, which has locked up the top seed and home-court advantage for the play-offs. Starters play limited minutes in front of 18,000 somnolent spectators while canned music is piped in during game action in a futile effort to engage them.

The atmosphere of the NBA is inferior. Of course when their players give full effort, the level of play is much better (I'll happily admit it's nice to see games where players make 80% of their free throws and a mid-range jumper isn't an adventure). But basketball doesn't lend itself to an 82-game regular season. There is little duller than a basketball game where guys are playing half-speed, and the schedule is peppered with those. Combine that with the league's insistence at maintaining teams in horrible sports towns (not talking about New York or Chicago or Boston, of course), the atmosphere isn't so good at times.

 

[Knicks411]

I agree the atmosphere isn't good at times, but college hoops atmosphere isn't good at times either. The atmosphere at the Dome last night wasn't exactly off the charts. And have you seen Depaul games?

The atmosphere of the NBA is inferior. Of course when their players give full effort, the level of play is much better (I'll happily admit it's nice to see games where players make 80% of their free throws and a mid-range jumper isn't an adventure). But basketball doesn't lend itself to an 82-game regular season. There is little duller than a basketball game where guys are playing half-speed, and the schedule is peppered with those.

There is something to this. There are a decent amount of "schedule losses" in the NBA, those games where a team is playing their 4th game in 5 nights or whatever, and the other team maybe had 2 days off prior to the game and that team just has more energy. But I really don't think there are a lot of half speed games; in the sense that the players are dogging it. They may be beaten down by the schedule/travel, but the vast vast majority of the time, I see 100% from the guys on the court. (And I agree 100% on the mid-range jumper thing; don't get me wrong, I love SU hoops, and college hoops in general, but there are times when it is just way too hard to make a bucket).

I think cutting the season down to 60-65 games would probably be for the best. Maybe even 70 games. Get rid of a lot of the back to backs, 4 games in 5 nights, etc. But neither side wants to give up the revenue.

 

[OttoMets]

I agree the atmosphere isn't good at times, but college hoops atmosphere isn't good at times either. The atmosphere at the Dome last night wasn't exactly off the charts. And have you seen Depaul games?

There is something to this. There are a decent amount of "schedule losses" in the NBA, those games where a team is playing their 4th game in 5 nights or whatever, and the other team maybe had 2 days off prior to the game and that team just has more energy. But I really don't think there are a lot of half speed games; in the sense that the players are dogging it. They may be beaten down by the schedule/travel, but the vast vast majority of the time, I see 100% from the guys on the court. (And I agree 100% on the mid-range jumper thing; don't get me wrong, I love SU hoops, and college hoops in general, but there are times when it is just way too hard to make a bucket).

I think cutting the season down to 60-65 games would probably be for the best. Maybe even 70 games. Get rid of a lot of the back to backs, 4 games in 5 nights, etc. But neither side wants to give up the revenue.

Good points, all. A 60-game season would really be a step in the right direction. And implementing Bill Simmons's suggestion (a serious one, I think) to eliminate end-of-season tanking by potential lottery teams by awarding an 8 seed via a play-in tournament could be very interesting. (That, and insisting that cities like Seattle have teams while cities like Atlanta do not.)

 

[Knicks411]

Good points, all. A 60-game season would really be a step in the right direction. And implementing Bill Simmons's suggestion (a serious one, I think) to eliminate end-of-season tanking by potential lottery teams by awarding an 8 seed via a play-in tournament could be very interesting. (That, and insisting that cities like Seattle have teams while cities like Atlanta do not.)

That's definitely an interesting idea, that will never happen, I don't think. Seems very radical.

And I don't even know if it'll work; if you had a guy like Lebron available in the draft, I'd still tank even if I was a bad team and could win a tournament to be the sacrificial lamb for the 1 seed.

On the back to back thing, I remember during the 99 season, which was the shortened year, they had back to back to back games. Barkley had a quote along the lines of "I can't have sex 3 nights in a row, how can I play games 3 nights in a row?"

 

[OttoMets]

On the back to back thing, I remember during the 99 season, which was the shortened year, they had back to back to back games. Barkley had a quote along the lines of "I can't have sex 3 nights in a row, how can I play games 3 nights in a row?"

Good quote. That's just insane. It's greed on the part of the league and owners and a thumb in the eye to the paying ticketholders. I'm sure three-quarters of fans, at least, would rather see fewer games if it meant a higher quality of play, but the only way to achieve that change would be to have fans no-showing in droves at those second-night return games. And I don't see that happening.

 

[RoysRunts]

The last paragraph is telling--- Thanks Etan http://moneyland.time.com/2011/11/07/the-nba-lockout-and-the-economy-an-overstated-impact/

 

[IthacaMatt]

Uh...because they're the ones risking their money. Unions have no place in professional sports. None.

Nobody made them offer $100 million contracts to terrible players. That's their own fault. And so their response is breach of contract with the existing player contracts and refusal to negotiate with the union. Sure, that's All-American behavior.

 

[cuseincincy]

Nobody made them offer $100 million contracts to terrible players. That's their own fault. And so their response is breach of contract with the existing player contracts and refusal to negotiate with the union. Sure, that's All-American behavior.

I don't doubt that some of the need for owners is to police themselves. Fact is some of the owners are uncontrollable without additional constraints put on them by the other owners. Not all the owners can offer $100 Million contracts. I'd love to see a hard cap put in place like the NFL. Its the most popular, competitive and balanced sport of all the major sports.
Percent of Revenue to Payroll:
NFL - 48%
MLB - 45%
NHL - 54% anything less than 54% goes into escrow for players.
NBA - 57%
Sound Business Recommendation - 30-38% ("any business with a payroll that exceeds 50 percent of revenues is likely to get in financial trouble. Once other expenses and taxes are factored in, there will be little left over." - eHow (Hey! Its a source.))