The 3-point shot blame is something we see regularly now, with almost every article being written on the NBA, deepdiving into this. But, it's crazy how no one is even looking at the smaller stuff, like social media (like you said), following players, but not teams. It's not just the 3-pointer.
I kinda just summarized a part of your article 😅, but I just went here to say, what an amazing article.
Yeah, I don’t know how you tackle it either. Everything is so entrenched already and the new media deal will likely make the fractal nature of the league worse.
It's an interesting paradigm the NBA is stuck in, because it's let a genie out of the bottle that there's no guarantee it can get back in that bottle. Under that same Jared Dubin article you brought up, I argued that there needed to be more physical contact in the game. He checked me on that, and we came to the agreement that what basketball is missing is not physicality. It's menace.
Menace is not violence. It's the threat of violence. The feeling that the people in the other uniform are your enemy who are trying to stop you from accomplishing your goals. You are supposed to hate these people, at least for the designated 48 minute period of time you are assigned to be their enemy. That may still be the case, but a two minute highlight package that presents the game as if it was a jump shooting contest does not showcase it very well.
Casual fans are known not to like disciplined showcases of skill. Those are for the hardcores. The problem with jump shots is that this is what happens. It begins to feel more like a skill showcase than a competition, because it's just so hard for the opposing team to do anything about a very skilled shooter. If he's having a good night the shots will fall. If not, they will miss. This is all independent of anything the opposing team can do. Not wholly independent but mostly.
This ties back in to what you were saying. If there is no on-court hatred, and very little existing team pride, that means we have no rivalries and can't build any new rivalries, and if that's the case, who's the babyface and who's the heel? Who do I cheer for, and if I have nobody to cheer for, why should I watch?
I feel like this (jump shots create very little hatred, and the league needs some hatred right now) is an easily diagnosed problem, but a very difficult one to fix. Nobody wants to watch the games because it's both too hard and too easy, like you talked about, but if nobody watches, how can we show them that we're fixing the problems?
It's a tough dilemma.
Thanks for making me think about this Jacob. Good read buddy.
We need good old-school basketball back. More defense, more dunks, and the league should stop being soft. Many of these fouls the refs call nowadays wouldn't be fouls back in the 80s or 90s
Is it cultural or strategic? I thought the perception that teams are playing the same style is, in fact, true because analytics convinced teams to focus on threes and layups. That is, the issue facing the NBA is similar to what MLB confronted with tbe shift--a winning but boring strategy.
It’s possibly a mix of both, but teams aren’t necessarily playing the same style. Yes, everyone is taking more threes than they used to, but they way in which they get those threes are different, and some teams are taking far fewer threes than others (i.e. The Nuggets).
I’d give MLB credit for at least trying to solve the fundamentals of their game, albeit poorly.
The whole "how to watch your team" has gotten out of control. I am a fan of Michigan State. For football this year, games were on Fox, NBC, CBS, Big 10 Network, Peacock, FS1, and due to an away game, ACC network. As a result, I watched the fewer games than I have in years.
Meanwhile, the Mavs now have most of their games over-the-air at least in DFW, and I've watched more.
I try — I’m not perfect by any means — but I think just a general sense of self awareness goes a long way. Most Gen Zers don’t tend to actually do the research into why social media can be bad, despite being told that social is bad all of the time.
I love it Jacob.
The 3-point shot blame is something we see regularly now, with almost every article being written on the NBA, deepdiving into this. But, it's crazy how no one is even looking at the smaller stuff, like social media (like you said), following players, but not teams. It's not just the 3-pointer.
I kinda just summarized a part of your article 😅, but I just went here to say, what an amazing article.
Thanks Smayan!
Yeah, I don’t know how you tackle it either. Everything is so entrenched already and the new media deal will likely make the fractal nature of the league worse.
It's an interesting paradigm the NBA is stuck in, because it's let a genie out of the bottle that there's no guarantee it can get back in that bottle. Under that same Jared Dubin article you brought up, I argued that there needed to be more physical contact in the game. He checked me on that, and we came to the agreement that what basketball is missing is not physicality. It's menace.
Menace is not violence. It's the threat of violence. The feeling that the people in the other uniform are your enemy who are trying to stop you from accomplishing your goals. You are supposed to hate these people, at least for the designated 48 minute period of time you are assigned to be their enemy. That may still be the case, but a two minute highlight package that presents the game as if it was a jump shooting contest does not showcase it very well.
Casual fans are known not to like disciplined showcases of skill. Those are for the hardcores. The problem with jump shots is that this is what happens. It begins to feel more like a skill showcase than a competition, because it's just so hard for the opposing team to do anything about a very skilled shooter. If he's having a good night the shots will fall. If not, they will miss. This is all independent of anything the opposing team can do. Not wholly independent but mostly.
This ties back in to what you were saying. If there is no on-court hatred, and very little existing team pride, that means we have no rivalries and can't build any new rivalries, and if that's the case, who's the babyface and who's the heel? Who do I cheer for, and if I have nobody to cheer for, why should I watch?
I feel like this (jump shots create very little hatred, and the league needs some hatred right now) is an easily diagnosed problem, but a very difficult one to fix. Nobody wants to watch the games because it's both too hard and too easy, like you talked about, but if nobody watches, how can we show them that we're fixing the problems?
It's a tough dilemma.
Thanks for making me think about this Jacob. Good read buddy.
Agreed agreed agreed!!!
Thanks for reading!!
We need good old-school basketball back. More defense, more dunks, and the league should stop being soft. Many of these fouls the refs call nowadays wouldn't be fouls back in the 80s or 90s
That’s definitely a factor. Bringing back hand-checking (at minimum beyond the arc) would help.
Is it cultural or strategic? I thought the perception that teams are playing the same style is, in fact, true because analytics convinced teams to focus on threes and layups. That is, the issue facing the NBA is similar to what MLB confronted with tbe shift--a winning but boring strategy.
It’s possibly a mix of both, but teams aren’t necessarily playing the same style. Yes, everyone is taking more threes than they used to, but they way in which they get those threes are different, and some teams are taking far fewer threes than others (i.e. The Nuggets).
I’d give MLB credit for at least trying to solve the fundamentals of their game, albeit poorly.
The whole "how to watch your team" has gotten out of control. I am a fan of Michigan State. For football this year, games were on Fox, NBC, CBS, Big 10 Network, Peacock, FS1, and due to an away game, ACC network. As a result, I watched the fewer games than I have in years.
Meanwhile, the Mavs now have most of their games over-the-air at least in DFW, and I've watched more.
It's absurd. Jealous of the OTA games for Mavs...if only Houston were so kind.
It may pay the bills for streaming companies and leagues alike but, boy, does it feel bad as a consumer.
Excellent, excellent article!
I commend you, a member of the 4 to 8 second attention-span generation, of being able to throw off that curse! 😄
Thanks emie!
I try — I’m not perfect by any means — but I think just a general sense of self awareness goes a long way. Most Gen Zers don’t tend to actually do the research into why social media can be bad, despite being told that social is bad all of the time.