How important is the NBA to you?

[Scout200]

Some people live and breath the NBA... How important is the NBA to you?

-Scout

[westkoast]

The sport of basketball is very important to me.  It is many things for me personally.  It is how I exercise and attempt to say healthy.  I use it to reduce stress or take my mind off bad situations.  Even for a while there it was helping with my inability to sleep at night.  Of course it is also an excuse to hang out with friends, goto the bar, or have a BBQ.  That is always cool!

Notice I didn't say just the NBA?  While watching pro basketball is at the very top of my list of pass times if the NBA was locked out, like many assume it will be next summer, I wouldn't go nuts.  I would be VERY unhappy but it wouldn't be the end of the world.   I probably would just go shoot around to take my mind off of it 

[Joe Vancil]

The sport of basketball is very important to me.  It is many things for me personally.  It is how I exercise and attempt to say healthy.  I use it to reduce stress or take my mind off bad situations.  Even for a while there it was helping with my inability to sleep at night.  Of course it is also an excuse to hang out with friends, goto the bar, or have a BBQ.  That is always cool!

Notice I didn't say just the NBA?  While watching pro basketball is at the very top of my list of pass times if the NBA was locked out, like many assume it will be next summer, I wouldn't go nuts.  I would be VERY unhappy but it wouldn't be the end of the world.   I probably would just go shoot around to take my mind off of it 

Well said, 'koast.

NBA basketball is sliding down my list of favorite things, although I still believe it's the best basketball played on the planet.  And while I still particpate in our fantasy league, there's not the excitement that there used to be.  The moment basketball in June became "Lakers vs. Celtics" again, for a guy who got sick of watching Lakers/Celtics/Sixers (pick two) every Sunday in the '80's, it just hits me all wrong.  And now, the "assemble all the superstars to a couple of teams" mentality just further grates on me.  But it *IS* the best basketball on the planet, and the game is very important to me - as I play, coach, watch, and write on this board about basketball.  The sport is greater than the NBA, but the NBA holds an important status for the sport.

[Scout200]

The sport is greater than the NBA, but the NBA holds an important status for the sport.

Very nicely said!!!

-Scout

[Scout200]

The NBA is definitely peaking my interest! In the past, I wouldn't say it was of any importance but am finding myself becoming more fascinated...

-Scout

[WayOutWest]

The NBA is definitely peaking my interest! In the past, I wouldn't say it was of any importance but am finding myself becoming more fascinated...

-Scout

The "Super Friends" in Miami doing it for you?

[Scout200]

The NBA is definitely peaking my interest! In the past, I wouldn't say it was of any importance but am finding myself becoming more fascinated...

-Scout

The "Super Friends" in Miami doing it for you?

Ha, actually - my kids are becoming more interested in basketball, just in general.  I also have some friends who are diehard fans. 

-Scout

[WayOutWest]

The NBA is definitely peaking my interest! In the past, I wouldn't say it was of any importance but am finding myself becoming more fascinated...

-Scout

The "Super Friends" in Miami doing it for you?

Ha, actually - my kids are becoming more interested in basketball, just in general.  I also have some friends who are diehard fans. 

-Scout

I actually thought the Miami "Rebel Alliance" was going to be cheered on to beat the Los Angeles "Empire".  Funny how things turned out.

[Reality]

The Dec 25th Heat @ Lakers game will be the highest t.v. rated game in the last 10 years.

For me, the last several years have seen such a decline in quality in the NBA.  Must see games are virtually a thing of the past.
For the fabrikators, I'd say the same thing if the Celtics won game 7.

[westkoast]

WOW I thought the same thing.  The league still benefits either way.  Whether someone is watching to see them win or lose it is all the same to advertisers heh

[JoMal]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/37447815/Lakers_And_Celtics_Again_The_NBA_s_Embarrassing_Parity

[westkoast]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/37447815/Lakers_And_Celtics_Again_The_NBA_s_Embarrassing_Parity

Not that the article and argument was bad but you can't compare a sport that one player can dominate (basketball) with sports that one player cannot dominate (football and baseball) in the way that he did.  I think Joe made this argument in one of the other threads.   I think we all can agree that Boston and Los Angeles have had the benefit of attracting a lot of talent because of their big market and location.  When you have Bill Russel, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Shaq, and Kobe on your teams for 10+ years you are going to rack up trophies. 

When it comes to having one player dominate a game (or season):

Baseball's closest is when a pitcher is on fire and throwing well.  Even then he cannot provide defense and score for his team like a basketball player.  Unless hes a big name closer he doesn't even play every game for the most part.

Football's closest is the QB but he never scores himself.  He has to pass the ball 98% of the time for his team to score.  He also doesn't play defense.

Also I might add that a star in football is not going to last as long as a star in basketball.  The sport is much more demanding physically and the players are much bigger on average.  Most players don't have 12-15 year careers in the NFL.  Even if you have a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady there is a smaller window for them even though they are well protected.

[Joe Vancil]

westkoast,

So, if there is any semblence of parity, why is it that inevitably, the "special" players end up in so few different cities?

The NBA has a problem, and the mass defection to Miami just highlighted it for those folks who cheer for Milwaukee, Indiana, Denver, Minnesota, Memphis, Toronto, etc.  And though some of it can be explained away, it cannot all be explained away by bad management or ownership.

[westkoast]

westkoast,

So, if there is any semblence of parity, why is it that inevitably, the "special" players end up in so few different cities?

The NBA has a problem, and the mass defection to Miami just highlighted it for those folks who cheer for Milwaukee, Indiana, Denver, Minnesota, Memphis, Toronto, etc.  And though some of it can be explained away, it cannot all be explained away by bad management or ownership.

I would say it's location first, with tradition and money inching each other out in the second slot depending on who it is.  The last being who well the franchise is run and whom the franchise surrounds itself with.

There is a reason players want to be in LA and Miami.   A lot of people flock to those areas for similar reasons, nba players and non nba players alike.

Some players pick tradition, which is why KG and Ray Allen ended up in Boston so quickly.  Some players pick money which is why Shaq ended up in LA so quickly from Orlando (both salary and movie roles/endorsements).  The reason I didn't include money as a clear second is because a team like the Knicks has plenty of money to spend and was freely doing so for a while.  No one ended up there because they didn't have a tradition of winning nor is it a well run franchise.  Even with that massive market that would get you millions in endorsements.

Boston has one of the greatest and nicest guys in the world in Bill Russell to make pitches to KG or to tell Shaq to try it out for a year.  The Lakers have Magic Johnson and had Jerry West around.  Big men who come to LA get to talk with Kareem Abdul Jabbar the second best big man to ever play.  If you go down to Miami you work with Pat Riley and they've recently won a title.  If you hit San Antonio you get to play for one of the greatest coaches of all time and the second best team in the last decade.  I am sure when Duncan retires he will be working with the Spurs in some role in which younger players will want to learn under him.  When you have legends and you win that carries for long periods of time.  I don't know if you can call it fair or unfair though.  Treating your legends well as an organization and a city goes a long way.

I would like to add that San Antonio would be a more attractive place for home grown talent IF they did not do such an excellent job of scouting for talent overseas.  I think a lot of players would love to play for Popavich and for a franchise that wins but instead of going after a Deron Williams they got a french Tony Parker.  Can't knock the hustle!

[JoMal]

No argument as for why, just that it is.

Main question still is how important does the NBA remain for those in non-title NBA cities? What happened to Cleveland this year illustrates how frustrating it is for the have-nots, whose mere existance is so necessary for the sucess of the LA's, Celtics, Miami's and the others who actually HAVE championship aspirations. Malone, Payton, Richmond, and now Lebron and countless others who opt to go where they feel they are more likely to win a championship never seem to include Utah, Sacramento, or even Denver.

Happens in baseball too, though, but unlike baseball, basketball teams DO have to deal with the salary cap, so wannabe baseball millionaires are much more limited as to where that possibility can take place then in basketball.