How should Today's NBA Improve?

[simmytbone]

Hey guys,

Here's a question for all of you fans of the NBA

Now, I know that many of you are fans of the Lakers or the Celtics and I know that some of you are not fans of Kobe Bryant and/or Lebron James and I know that people don't like the NBA on abc

and so, I want to know:

How should Today's NBA Improve?

Please share your list right here.

But I will say this:

THE Best Era of the NBA, IMO was when you had Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, James Worthy, Scottie Pippen, Penny Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Mitch Richmond, Chris Mullins, Isaiah Thomas, Karl Malone, Dominique Wilkins, Kevin Garnett, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwan, Reggie Miller and of course Big Shaquille O'Neal

[Jaqui-Michel]

The NBA can improve by letting my Nets choose first in the Lottery for three years straight. Seriously what's boring about the NBA is there are no hardcore rivalries and players are not allowed to be physical. Not to mention that the refs need to be more consistent in their foul calling. I really miss the days of Knicks/Pacers. Watching those games made me queasy, headachy and excited all at the same time.

[Brad Russ]

Spread the talent out throughout all teams. The recent trend has been putting together mini all star teams. Realistically, only a small handful of teams even have a chance of winning titles, so people don't come out to see their teams as much, since they know they don't have much of a chance of winning. Most players are simply playing for a paycheck, not a title, and most fans want to root for a contender.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by tnawcwvictoriafa

Hey guys,

Here's a question for all of you fans of the NBA

Now, I know that many of you are fans of the Lakers or the Celtics and I know that some of you are not fans of Kobe Bryant and/or Lebron James and I know that people don't like the NBA on abc

and so, I want to know:

How should Today's NBA Improve?

Please share your list right here.

But I will say this:

THE Best Era of the NBA, IMO was when you had Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, James Worthy, Scottie Pippen, Penny Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Mitch Hill, Isaiah Thomas, Karl Malone, Dominique Wilkins, Kevin Garnett, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwan, Reggie Miller and of course Big Shaquille O'Neal

By taking NBA coverage away from ESPN and only allowing TNT and NBATV to air games.

[isiahthomas]

To the threadstarter, you mean to say Mitch Richmond instead of Mitch Hill LOL. Solomon, why should ESPN stop airing NBA basketball games? I like watching NBA games on ESPN. I watched some of the Lakers and Orlando game last night. Lakers offense looks wack and i feel bad for Kobe. They got a few white boys that suck. I agree with Brad Russ. A lot of players today are playing for a paycheck and not a championship. That's why there was a lockout because players are more concerned with making their pockets fat LOL. They don't care about the fans because if they cared, there wouldn't have been a lockout. Plus some stars aren't trying to win championships by themselves. They wanna join teams that got other stars like Brad said. Lebron should've stayed in Cleveland because i believe he could've got some championships because the team was close to getting there. He needed a couple more good players to win some championships. He's impatient which is the situation with most star players. It does suck that he was with Cleveland for 7 years and never got a championship but sometimes stars never win a championship because it's tough to win some. Just because stars don't win a championship doesn't mean that they didn't have a good career. Dominique Wilkins, Patrick Ewing, Bernard King, Larry Johnson, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Penny Hardaway, Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance and lots of other former NBA stars never got championships and they had good careers. Plus most stars back in the day stayed with one team.

[MrCleveland]

Originally Posted by isiahthomas

To the threadstarter, you mean to say Mitch Richmond instead of Mitch Hill LOL. Solomon, why should ESPN stop airing NBA basketball games? I like watching NBA games on ESPN. I watched some of the Lakers and Orlando game last night. Lakers offense looks wack and i feel bad for Kobe. They got a few white boys that suck. I agree with Brad Russ. A lot of players today are playing for a paycheck and not a championship. That's why there was a lockout because players are more concerned with making their pockets fat LOL. They don't care about the fans because if they cared, there wouldn't have been a lockout. Plus some stars aren't trying to win championships by themselves. They wanna join teams that got other stars like Brad said. Lebron should've stayed in Cleveland because i believe he could've got some championships because the team was close to getting there. He needed a couple more good players to win some championships. He's impatient which is the situation with most star players. It does suck that he was with Cleveland for 7 years and never got a championship but sometimes stars never win a championship because it's tough to win some. Just because stars don't win a championship doesn't mean that they didn't have a good career. Dominique Wilkins, Patrick Ewing, Bernard King, Larry Johnson, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Penny Hardaway, Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance and lots of other former NBA stars never got championships and they had good careers. Plus most stars back in the day stayed with one team.

True...Michael Jordan stayed in Chicago after 7 years of NOT going to the Finals...now look at The Bulls, they have 6 Trophies!

And for The Cavs...7 years, LeButthead Leaves, and NO Championships...and they way The Cavs are playing now...forget it!

[AllenYanik]

Thank you for your posting.

[simmytbone]

Originally Posted by isiahthomas

To the threadstarter, you mean to say Mitch Richmond instead of Mitch Hill LOL. Solomon, why should ESPN stop airing NBA basketball games? I like watching NBA games on ESPN. I watched some of the Lakers and Orlando game last night. Lakers offense looks wack and i feel bad for Kobe. They got a few white boys that suck. I agree with Brad Russ. A lot of players today are playing for a paycheck and not a championship. That's why there was a lockout because players are more concerned with making their pockets fat LOL. They don't care about the fans because if they cared, there wouldn't have been a lockout. Plus some stars aren't trying to win championships by themselves. They wanna join teams that got other stars like Brad said. Lebron should've stayed in Cleveland because i believe he could've got some championships because the team was close to getting there. He needed a couple more good players to win some championships. He's impatient which is the situation with most star players. It does suck that he was with Cleveland for 7 years and never got a championship but sometimes stars never win a championship because it's tough to win some. Just because stars don't win a championship doesn't mean that they didn't have a good career. Dominique Wilkins, Patrick Ewing, Bernard King, Larry Johnson, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Penny Hardaway, Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance and lots of other former NBA stars never got championships and they had good careers. Plus most stars back in the day stayed with one team.

Sorry, I'll have to disagree

ESPN has too many nitpickers and too much politics which is why I don't watch too much ESPN Sportscenter

If you want THE Best in NBA Broadcasting, checkout the NBA on TNT and also Classic NBA Action on TBS, CBS and NBC

abc/ESPN are all about HYPE and NOT about FIRE

[hawkeye123]

If it was up too me I would make players stay with the team that drafted them. Unless they had a legit reason for being traded. A legit reason isn't because the other team has a chance too win a title either. A legit reason is serious conflict with teamates.

[TVFactFan]

Eliminate offensive foul

[GARFIELDKOOL]

Originally Posted by Brad Russ

Spread the talent out throughout all teams. The recent trend has been putting together mini all star teams. Realistically, only a small handful of teams even have a chance of winning titles, so people don't come out to see their teams as much, since they know they don't have much of a chance of winning. Most players are simply playing for a paycheck, not a title, and most fans want to root for a contender.

I agree. That's what's wrong with the NBA nowadays. It seems for TV purposes, the leagues only cares about color teams and markets like the Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and Knicks. It seems like they try so hard to keep these franchises as contenders because they sell merchandise. Meanwhile, team like the Pacers, Bucks, Kings, just remain unrecongnizable. When the NBA playoffs started last year, I didn't realize the Pacers were in the playoffs, and I couldn't name one player on the team. That franchise was just built with players who played hard. That's what you gotta do.

[simmytbone]

I also say this:

GET RID OF DAVID STERN!!

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by tnawcwvictoriafa

I also say this:

GET RID OF DAVID STERN!!

Well you have 2 more years of him

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by tnawcwvictoriafa

Sorry, I'll have to disagree

ESPN has too many nitpickers and too much politics which is why I don't watch too much ESPN Sportscenter

If you want THE Best in NBA Broadcasting, checkout the NBA on TNT and also Classic NBA Action on TBS, CBS and NBC

abc/ESPN are all about HYPE and NOT about FIRE

I agree.

I can't really watch Sportscenter at all, because every single one of the anchors is just so incredibly annoying, I can't stand to listen to them. I can't watch their NFL Sunday show either, because of Chris Berman and Tom Jackson. And they go overboard with trying to make un-hot women look hot. Just doesn't work. Linda Cohn is not hot. She's just incredibly annoying.

On rare occasions, a story might come out that I might want to hear something about. That's when I will voluntarily turn on Sportscenter. But it's not that often.

The best NBA national TV broadcasts (IMO) were probably on CBS during the 80s. Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn were a good team. NBC (90s) was a step down. ABC/ESPN don't even know HOW to televise an NBA game. ABC used to do the national game-of-the-week during the early 70s, they were good. I think Keith Jackson was the main guy during that time on ABC. But today, ESPN and ABC are terrible.

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by Brad Russ

Spread the talent out throughout all teams. The recent trend has been putting together mini all star teams. Realistically, only a small handful of teams even have a chance of winning titles, so people don't come out to see their teams as much, since they know they don't have much of a chance of winning. Most players are simply playing for a paycheck, not a title, and most fans want to root for a contender.

Very true about most players playing for a paycheck rather than a title. People would be surprised to learn how many NBA players don't really like playing the game that much (even though they are good at it). To a lot of players, it's just a job, just as going to work in a store or an office is just a job to a lot of us. As fans, and as people who like to play the sports, it's hard to relate to that attitude. But it's true.

A title is really the #3 priority for most players. Number 1 is the paycheck, and number 2 is to be on ESPN's top 10 plays. It's kind of funny to me how many times you see a "Top 10" play, and then the anchors will comment that the guy's team ended up losing the game.

As far as having a lot of teams with a shot at a title, that really hasn't been the history of the league. It might be that the most competitive decade was the 70s. The Knicks (70/73) and Celtics (74/76) each won two titles, but the other teams who won titles during that decade were the Bucks (71), Lakers (72), Warriors (75), Blazers (77), Bullets (78) and Sonics (79). That's a lot of different champions for one decade. And of course, there were no repeaters. At the time, several teams (71 Knicks, 78 Blazers and even the 76 Warriors) were thought to have a good chance of repeating. But they were usually stopped either by injuries (Knicks and Reed, Blazers and Walton) or by running into a really hot team at playoff time (Warriors got knocked out by the Suns in 76).

The 80s were, of course, were pretty much dominated by two teams, as were the 90s (Bulls and Rockets). The 60s were dominated by one team.