In my opinion the NBA is no longer watchable because of many reasons like superteams, the regular season meaning nothing, lack of markets, and the evolution of shot chucking. The 2021 season might be the least competitive year of all time because of the superteam. We saw this previously in 2015-2019 in the Golden State Warriors but at least 3 out of the 4 All Stars were homegrown. And I know your job as a GM is to assemble the best team you can but coming from a fan’s perspective (besides Nets and Lakers) it’s not fun to watch like wow I can’t wait till the inevitable Nets vs Lakers Finals matchup where the Lakers will most likely get steam rolled by 3 1st ballot future Hall of Famers. 2020 was the most competitive season for me since the 2013-2014 where you had MVP Kevin Durant in OKC, 5-6 teams that had a good chance at winning it all with 5 of those teams being SMALL MARKET TEAMS. You also had a young Stephen Curry, Paul George in Indiana, Kawhi in San Antonio, A three headed beast in the Los Angeles Clippers. See how the wealth is spread around and not all on 2 teams? Now I’ll be breaking down all the factors of why the NBA is unwatchable for me and why the game might not be going in the best direction.
The Super Team and Small Markets
Now if you want to argue who started the super team trend I don’t care but the matter of the fact is that I want to see superstars all on different teams and building dynasties with the team they get drafted by. Back in the NBA’s prime in 1990-1999 you had teams make the Finals with homegrown guys like Michael Jordan was drafted by the Bulls and stayed there, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp with the Seattle Supersonics, Clyde Drexler in Portland, John Stockton and Karl Malone in Utah, Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston, Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson in Phoenix, Shaq in Orlando. You see the trend here? A lot of star power in the small markets and everyone here went to the NBA Finals so the NBA is capable of having small markets in the Finals they just need to make improvements towards that. Fast forward back to 2021 where their 2 teams and they are both big markets in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Yes in 2021 the Jazz, Suns, Bucks are all small markets competing but let’s be honest no of them can beat the big three of LeBron in a playoff series. Which makes the regular season not mean anything which I’ll get into later. Matt how could you possibly solve this problem then? Well I would give a team a maximum of 2 max contracts for a certain amount of years so you have to be cautious of who you give your max contracts to. This would give the Hornets, Magic, Wizards and many more markets a chance to get a big free agent to “spread the wealth”.
The Evolution of the 3 Point Shot
Don’t get me wrong I love myself some 3 point shooting when it’s displayed well like when Curry plays but games have become unbearable to watch also because of this. Have you noticed in the last 5 years that people don’t take the easy mid-range or even layup to shoot a 3 ball? Well I’ve seen it a lot recently and it ticks me off. Yes mathematically a 3 is worth more then a 2 but math doesn’t count stupidity sometimes with these shots. In 2021 the average team averages around 25-41 3PA per game which is absurd and shouldn’t be happening and usually a good team averages around 100 possession a game so anywhere from 25% to 40% of the shots a team takes is a 3 pointer, see the problem yet? And please don’t get me started how the 3 pointer has affected the youth but that’s another whole story. I live in New York so I see both the Nets and Knicks on TV and yes the Nets are way more entertaining to watch because they have 3 All Stars but they average 41 3PA per game and on the other side you have the Knicks averaging 25 3PA per game and I’d rather watch the Knicks play because they are young and building team the right way and winning games without being a 3 point team and being aggressive and hungry. I’m not a boomer I swear.
Referees
Now this is a topic I’m very passionate about because of how much it gets under my skin. These guys are the reason why people say the NBA is soft and I understand where they come from. One hand check *Fffwwwhhhhee*, someone tries to contest a shot in the paint *Fffwwwhhhhee*, Trae Young does his stupid thing to draw a foul *Fffwwwhhhhee*, someone breathes on LeBron, KD, or Curry *Fffwwwhhhhee*. I’ve seen too many games be decided by the refs and their incapability of letting the kids play in the final minutes. Picky fouls ruin the game that I love and it’s sad, if it’s an obvious foul then call it I don’t care about that but when they call fouls every time Harden or LeBron drives it gets repetitive. I don’t know how you could fix this problem but Adam Silver NEEDS to fix this problem because it’s ruining the integrity of the game and it’s turning a lot of heads away from the sport.
TheDyspatch 