Fans apparently like ugly basketball:

This year the pace has declined a little from what we saw last season, but the main reason scoring has dropped is because guys can't hit shots. Field goal percentage has declined from .459 to .443 and three-point shooting has dropped from .358 to .345.

In principle, that could be better defense rather than worse offense. But good defense can't explain why free-throw percentage is down to .747 from last season's .763-that's player incompetence, caught red-handed.

Congratulations to Paul Pierce for passing Bird on the all time Celtics scoring list (I dont think we are going to get a thread)!

I am making my annual trip to a Celtics game on Sunday (Bulls) and I cant freaking wait.

If that's the case, lets just cancel the NBA completely. No one except Spike Lee would notice.

PowerSlacker: Fans apparently like ugly basketball:

This year the pace has declined a little from what we saw last season, but the main reason scoring has dropped is because guys can't hit shots. Field goal percentage has declined from .459 to .443 and three-point shooting has dropped from .358 to .345.

In principle, that could be better defense rather than worse offense. But good defense can't explain why free-throw percentage is down to .747 from last season's .763-that's player incompetence, caught red-handed.

Fans do. It is called college basketball.

schief2: Hey Major League Baseball, ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS?

Came here for this. Baseball needs to shut it down around Labor Day. En masse, no one cares once the NFL preseason starts. And late October/early November World Series games? No baseball should be played when you can see the players' breaths.

FreakinB: Smaller number of games? Yes. Compressed to the degree that situations like "4 games in 5 days" are in play? No.

I like it, but only if they make the playoffs the same. The biggest problem I have with the NBA isn't the regular season, it's the playoffs that drag ass over 2 weeks for one 7 game series.

bhcompy: FreakinB: Smaller number of games? Yes. Compressed to the degree that situations like "4 games in 5 days" are in play? No.

I like it, but only if they make the playoffs the same. The biggest problem I have with the NBA isn't the regular season, it's the playoffs that drag ass over 2 weeks for one 7 game series.

Obligatory

DubyaHater: If that's the case, lets just cancel the NBA completely. No one except Spike Lee would notice.



Politely disagrees.

With a 9 iron.

The strike is over? I hadn't heard that.

bhcompy: The biggest problem I have with the NBA isn't the regular season, it's the playoffs that drag ass over 2 weeks for one 7 game series.

Last year the NHL and NBA playoffs actually seemed to last the same amount of time, for once. I think the first round needs to go back to 5 games and they should every other day. As for the season, shorten it to 60 something games but with regular breaks, this season is way too sloppy.

schief2: Hey Major League Baseball, ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS?

Is there anything right with baseball?

PowerSlacker: Fans apparently like ugly basketball:

This year the pace has declined a little from what we saw last season, but the main reason scoring has dropped is because guys can't hit shots. Field goal percentage has declined from .459 to .443 and three-point shooting has dropped from .358 to .345.

In principle, that could be better defense rather than worse offense. But good defense can't explain why free-throw percentage is down to .747 from last season's .763-that's player incompetence, caught red-handed.

To put that in perspective:
The change in FG % is making one less shot of every 62.5 shots taken. That's roughly one shot per team per game.
The change in 3PM % is making one less shot of every 77 shots taken. That's about one shot every 4 or 5 games?
The change in FT % is making one less shot of every 62.5 shots taken. That's roughly a shot every other game.

In other words, if nobody pointed it out, nobody would have noticed.

Are turnovers up over previous years? That would be a sign of "bad basketball" caused by the schedule.

What? The players came in out of shape, the quality of the basketball sucks, and there are injuries all over the place.

When did the strike end? I wasn't aware the NBA season was going on.


We only care about college hoops around here.

Wadded Beef: schief2: Hey Major League Baseball, ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS?

Came here for this. Baseball needs to shut it down around Labor Day. En masse, no one cares once the NFL preseason starts. And late October/early November World Series games? No baseball should be played when you can see the players' breaths.

The difference is that MLB ratings are climbing and the NBA's had been in a free fall for years and is just now starting a slight uptick.

Personally I like shorter NBA seasons, less time for me to ignore the TVs in sports bars, the TV that got the most attention in our local bar was the SPEED channel with jackass type stunts on it.

steamingpile: The difference is that MLB ratings are climbing and the NBA's had been in a free fall for years and is just now starting a slight uptick.

Pretty sure it's the opposite at this point, baseball is an old people sport.

no one cares about or watches the nba except for bettors

some people have civic or immature childhood loyalties

oh wait wait that dunk scored two points....

TheJoe03: steamingpile: The difference is that MLB ratings are climbing and the NBA's had been in a free fall for years and is just now starting a slight uptick.

Pretty sure it's the opposite at this point, baseball is an old people sport.

I dunno what games you go to. Baseball is still the family sport(does not apply to Dodger Stadium)

TheJoe03: Pretty sure it's the opposite at this point, baseball is an old people sport.

No, baseball was practically dead almost a decade ago with ratings for the WS being complete shiat and regular season games being in the 2 share, now WS ratings are approaching the 20 share and regular season games are in the 5-7 share range. The NBA was rolling along about 15-20 years ago with regular season games in the 25-30 share range and the playoffs being an event that rivaled the Super Bowl, now a regular season game is lucky to get an 8 share and the playoffs in the high teens to low 20s.

Dont forget there was talk at one time about what year the NBA would be bigger than the NFL, not if, but when since it was just accepted that the NBA would keep growing, that is a severe drop off and I equate it to the NBA allowing it to be 'thugged out', inviting the gang atmosphere into its culture and pushing families away.

As soon as you said "thug" I started to ignore you. The NBA was more "thug" and physical when the Bulls and Pistons were big, you are just an NBA hater it seems. The game hasn't been this devoid of thug in years. Also, baseball just isn't very major among young people but you wouldn't know that since you are at least 40 years old. The NBA started to suck when it became Stern ball and he started putting too much control on the game. Look at the dirty refs before anything else. It also doesn't help that MJ retired. Thug ball? What a joke you are for saying that! All I know is that the MLB and NBA have similar ratings with the NFL way ahead and the NHL and other sports way behind. The MLB should be ashamed of that since they used to be the unchallenged number 1 sport of this country.

TheJoe03: As soon as you said "thug" I started to ignore you. The NBA was more "thug" and physical when the Bulls and Pistons were big, you are just an NBA hater it seems. The game hasn't been this devoid of thug in years. Also, baseball just isn't very major among young people but you wouldn't know that since you are at least 40 years old. The NBA started to suck when it became Stern ball and he started putting too much control on the game. Look at the dirty refs before anything else. It also doesn't help that MJ retired. Thug ball? What a joke you are for saying that! All I know is that the MLB and NBA have similar ratings with the NFL way ahead and the NHL and other sports way behind. The MLB should be ashamed of that since they used to be the unchallenged number 1 sport of this country.

NBA isn't thug anymore. It's Bling now, and easy to associate with the evolution of thug given it's the path that rap culture has evolved from the gangsta rap era and the association the players and outspoken fans have with the rap culture. It's not a family oriented culture like baseball, it's a young male culture, and you don't see many families at the games like you do at baseball games and even hockey. The NBA and MLB have two fundamentally different fan cultures and target demographics(and "old people" isn't the target demographic for the MLB) and will likely stay that way as long as they continue to market themselves as they do now. Yea, MLB has fallen off ratings wise from its peak, but so has all of television.

The bling culture seems to be dying as well. Also, are people still scared of rap music? The industry has destroyed all the rebellion out of the genre and turned it into a big money making shiathole full of effeminate men and materialistic lyrics. Long live the underground!