Quote:
Originally Posted by RunKC
The NBA is dying a slow death and has been for a few years now. It’s not in a great place
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I'll be honest I don't know why. I watch TONS of college bball because of Kansas and most of the time it makes my eyes bleed. Then I turn on a Thunder game and it is a thing of beauty. Just the product is so much more graceful and skilled. No plodding players like Dickinson. No guys that can't shoot like KJ and if they cant shoot they are in the Bidunga mold and just fly around and dunk everything. Guys who can pass like Harris are everywhere. Then you have elite defenders on almost every great team like Dort and Wallace on the Thunder. The Mavs GM just traded a lazy guy who cant defend.
Its a lazy narrative perpetrated by old Jordan people who mainly haven't watched the game in 25 years. Ive watched this game from 1995 to now and it is wayyyyy better as far as the product and on the court talent. Now the huge euro influence has not helped and the lack of marketable American stars has hurt but I have no idea...NONE...how you would prefer the dead ball era of 1996 to 2005 or whatever better than what the NBA is now. I think the peak NBA product was around 2015 and old white fan claimed they didnt like it either yet didnt watch to see.
I thought I was crazy for having this take and went back and watched an NBA game from 1998 from the regular season and holy shit it felt like watching college basketball. It was awful.
Unfortunately the NBA has marketed themselves into a corner. I dont think they can get the old man fan back. I think the play is honestly expand into Europe and be a more world brand than they already are. They do as well outside of the USA as they do domestically.