Friday, May 11, 2012

NBA: Fix the Problem

Admittedly, when college basketball is on I watch college basketball, no matter if it be Indiana vs Purdue, or Duke vs Saint Mary's of the Woods, but why? Maybe it's my love for college basketball, but it also has to do with the sick feeling in my stomach when I watch guys walking up a basketball court in the regular season.

If I want to watch a bunch of guys walking I'll turn on golf, but I'm not here to criticize the in-game interviews, the constant playing of loud music instead of actual fan-fare or even the egos that are the driving force of the league. I'm here to offer a solution to solve the problem.

In my opinion, the NFL is the only league that has it right in terms of the regular season. With only 16 games, every game matters someway or another. It's exciting to watch and the effort is usually there, and the NBA would be no different.

Cutting the regular season to just 30 games would make the league a lot more exciting, and cause passion to once again defeat ego. The product would be better, guys would be more energized and people would actually watch almost every one of their teams games. Playing hard would be a must, or else someone else is going to beat you with effort. To me that's what makes college basketball so great. A team of nobodies, can beat the best team in the nation, because of effort.

In a season that is over 70 games it's difficult to give 100 percent every night especially defensively, but with a shorter schedule and season, guys would be forced to play harder or suffer defeat by effort rather than talent. Sure talent would have an advantage, but as seen every season in college hoops, talent isn't everything, you've got to have drive, and that's what the NBA is missing.

So shorten the season so it's effort is once again a must in a league that has recently turned into the biggest joke in professional sports, other than Lebron's fourth quarter heroics.

5 comments:

chevys10 said...

I agree with shortening the season, but I don't know about 30 games. I actually think this year was pretty exciting. (And I am NOT an NBA fan....I watched the Celtics this year solely because of JJ and E'twaun)

BG said...

I think cutting it to 60 would work, the other thing that could work is just take 2 teams out of the playoffs and give the #1 seed a bye. That way the end of the year when more eyes are watching teams are playing harder. Plus those left out can play more of a spoiler role which would give incentive to play hard. I think they 1st need to have less teams and rounds in the playoffs.

EW said...

Yes, I'm sure that the NBA would be more than willing to subtract 52 games from each team's schedule. That wouldn't hurt the bottom line of the league at all.

Morrow said...

A shortened season of 60 games would definitely benefit the NBA, but I also think 4-6 teams should disband from the league. Every game would be competitive because the level of talent on each team would drastically increase. The Kevin Loves, Kyrie Irvings, and Steve Nashs of the world would not be stuck playing for lower-tier teams. You wouldn't hear analysts talking about "The ONLY three teams with any shot at winning the championship whatsoever!" because all-stars like Deron Williams and LaMarcus Aldridge would be playing for all-star teams and not the lowly Nets/Blazers. Also, there would be no more 7-59 records (really Charlotte?).

If no teams disband, then the playoffs should be decreased from 16 teams to a maximum of 12 (preferably 8). The fact that OVER HALF the league gets into the post-season is ridiculous.

Despite my tone, I am one of the few people that still loves the NBA. My reasons for loving the sport would take too long to explain in one comment box, but I still have faith in the league. Its unfortunate that the NBA's antics have made so many basketball fans turn away from the greatest sport in the world. Out of my own adoration for basketball, I HAVE to think positively about its future.

efthemothership said...

I think that they should play every in conference team twice and every out of conference team once. The NBA has still managed to make the season seemed dragged out. There is no need for the teams to have 2-3 days off for each playoff game when they are not travelling. I think they should make the first round 5 games again.