Are the Warriors bad for the NBA?

[Teen Girl Squad]

What makes the Warriors good isn't just pure talent but how well the fit is. You can't have true parity within a season, its a zero-sum game (to win someone has to lose) and everyone just being .500 feels mediocre. The problem the NBA has is that its too difficult to rebuild/change course quickly. MLB teams can spend their way up/buy prospects. NFL contracts are written on toilet paper so their is a lot of player movement and chances to find new talent. In the NBA you have a hard cap and very strict trade restrictions, making any mistake (contract or draft pick) crippling for years. This is compounded by how much chemistry and fit matters in basketball.

They need a mix of easier trade rules (most likely), easier cap restrictions, and flexible contracts (least likely) to create more variability and give hope to more fans of more teams hope and reason to watch year to year. Until then teams like Brooklyn are F'd.

[JohnnyFiveAlive]

What makes the Warriors good isn't just pure talent but how well the fit is. You can't have true parity within a season, its a zero-sum game (to win someone has to lose) and everyone just being .500 feels mediocre. The problem the NBA has is that its too difficult to rebuild/change course quickly. MLB teams can spend their way up/buy prospects. NFL contracts are written on toilet paper so their is a lot of player movement and chances to find new talent. In the NBA you have a hard cap and very strict trade restrictions, making any mistake (contract or draft pick) crippling for years. This is compounded by how much chemistry and fit matters in basketball.

They need a mix of easier trade rules (most likely), easier cap restrictions, and flexible contracts (least likely) to create more variability and give hope to more fans of more teams hope and reason to watch year to year. Until then teams like Brooklyn are F'd.

I think one thing that would help is get rid of maximum contracts. If superstars where paid what they were worth it would go a long way to creating parity.

[Soupman]

Thanks Johnny.

That's is what I am saying. It's the cap structure that the problem. Lebron and Curry are worth WAY more than they are getting.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Other elite teams just need to play better and make the Warriors know they are ready to compete. If you let them be front runners then you are in trouble. They become too confident. You have to come out ready to throw the first punch so to speak. No guarantee you'll win, but you have a much better chance than them jumping out to a 20 point lead. They really aren't much more talented if at all than some of the other elite teams.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

I mean in a way, as a raps fan i could potentially have a hope if the top level teams weren't say quite as good as the warriors/spurs. Not a lot of hope though. But some.

[LakersLegacy]

They are the opposite. The Warriors are great for the NBA!

[PizzaSteve]

This song would actually make sense for them...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=738Hbps-zOo[/youtube]

Brilliant. Thank you.

[RaptorsLife]

no there the only thing that keeping the NBA fun to watch. So many trash games on national tv. Warriors are must watch

[TeK]

Don't kill the messenger here, I found this article to be very interesting and couldn't find a thread on here discussing it;

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/golden-state-warriors-stephen-curry-good-for-nba-012816

It was the start of what many believed would be the Warriors' toughest stretch this season: at Cleveland, at Chicago, home against Indiana and home against San Antonio.

Not only did the Warriors go 4-0, but they barely broke a sweat;€“ crushing the Cavs, Bulls and Spurs by a combined 95 points. This was supposed to be the Warriors' stumbling block as they pursued the '95-96 Bulls' 72-10 mark. Instead, it was further proof that the Warriors are far and away better than everyone else in the Association.

So why even bother watching, right? Well, it looks like that's exactly what's happening league-wide.

Despite the Warriors' brilliance, the league's TV viewership is down 8.2 percent on TNT and 5.6 percent on ESPN. Steph Curry is must-see TV, but it's not translating into better TV ratings for the NBA.

....

So why is the NBA struggling to get fans to tune into games? Maybe fans are just bored of the Warriors making the rest of league look like cannon fodder, possibly waiting to see if Golden State gets challenged in the playoffs.

The Warriors are facing off more with history than any of their contemporaries. Other than wondering if they will break the Bulls' mark, the Warriors have robbed the NBA's regular season of any drama.

I would explain the drop in tv viewership possibly on the large # of Laker games being broadcast as I doubt they have the same impact that they had in previous seasons. However, I think I am overall in agreement with the author. Never have I seen a season that seems this lopsided. Even last year in our naivety there was almost a feeling that there were 8 relevant teams in the West. Up until a couple of weeks ago it was pretty much a consensus that 3 teams had a shot. Then one of those teams massacred the other 2.

The Warriors are great, no one is disputing that. However are they GOOD for the league? Have they made the regular season more irrelevant than it had already become? Is this the worry that some people feel deep down if they ADD Durant?

Discuss.

it's never bad to have dominance or dynasty,,,so far for gsw - dominance. it leads the way into the future. it creates a paradigm for how the game should be played. it's good for fan interest. without dominance there is only mediocrity - the game being comfortable with the status quo. ucla and college basketball. bama and college football. russell and the celts. tiger and golf. bolt and the sprint. spurs and nba.

everybody is required to step it up and that is good for the sport. my only problem is i never liked the 3pt shot - it has ruined the game in so many ways. move the line back to 25' and eliminate the corner 3, and the 3 becomes the bonus shot it was meant to be.

Why does you dislike the 3pt shot? Shooting is apart of basketball. Why not reward it? It hasnt been a problem thus far, and the second someone leverages it to win, pop and fans speak up against it?

[Little Digger]

There's all kinds of really bad basketball being played in the NBA..The Warriors are my oasis.

[Left*My*Heart]

This is a typical NBA season. You have only a few teams that have a legitimate shot at winning the title and that is up from the two teams, Spurs and Heat from a couple of seasons back. You then have the tankers and their losing to go along with it.

If you didn't have the Warriors winning and playing their brand of basketball, viewership would even be lower.

[Freefloater]

the only bad thing is all the refs help they get

The refs didn't even help Steph or Klay off the floor when they got their concussions.

I was thinking about all those thing they get away with

btw they helped them avoid concussion protocols and thus to avoid missing the games..

the only bad thing is all the refs help they get

The refs didn't even help Steph or Klay off the floor when they got their concussions.

Also the Warriors just shot two freethrows against the 76ers. TWO. Harden gets that many even before player introductions.

1 irrelevant game is not a measuring stick...btw harden perhaps gets a cuople of freebies each game but the whistle is also silent cuople of times each game eventhough people were fouling him so that evens out in the end...

[predators]

A brilliant basketball team is bad for the NBA. What a ridiculous premise.

Aren't people are more likely to watch their teams if it means an excuse to see GS? Its two for the price of one.

Your dismissal of this premise is pretty ridiculous. Parity is good for all sports. The NFL is the most popular sport in the country mainly because there is much more parity than NBA.

Uhm...the NFL has been the most popular sports league in America for a lot longer than there has been any sort of parity in the system. The NFL was also the most popular league in the 1980's, when all of the titles were won by four teams from the same conference, and the 49ers took four of them.

I agree with you that parity is generally a good thing, but the idea that parity is the reason the NFL is so popular is just spectacularly ignorant.

The best part about the bolded, is its the Oakland Raiders that makes it completely false given your Warriors flair. (Though they were in LA for one of their Superbowls.)


1. San Fran (4) NFC
2. Washington (2) NFC
3. Chicago (1) NFC
4. Giants (1) NFC
5. Raiders (2) AFC

The NFL also had 5 other teams play in the Superbowl but not win; so a total of 10 different teams made it to the superbowl in '80s.
(Denver, New England, Cincinnatti, Miami, Philadelphia never won)

The NBA had 5 total teams make the Finals in the same span. (4 different Champions).
(Lakers, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, and Detroit)

[Soupman]

What makes the Warriors good isn't just pure talent but how well the fit is. You can't have true parity within a season, its a zero-sum game (to win someone has to lose) and everyone just being .500 feels mediocre. The problem the NBA has is that its too difficult to rebuild/change course quickly. MLB teams can spend their way up/buy prospects. NFL contracts are written on toilet paper so their is a lot of player movement and chances to find new talent. In the NBA you have a hard cap and very strict trade restrictions, making any mistake (contract or draft pick) crippling for years. This is compounded by how much chemistry and fit matters in basketball.

They need a mix of easier trade rules (most likely), easier cap restrictions, and flexible contracts (least likely) to create more variability and give hope to more fans of more teams hope and reason to watch year to year. Until then teams like Brooklyn are F'd.

I agree.

Either have no cap(pretty much pay to play) or have a high hard cap with unlimited contracts.

[matt3254]

As a casual fan to the entire league minus the Bulls, this NBA season has been incredibly boring in my eyes. I like good and even competition and that's just hard to find this year, especially from the few select games that national TV decides to host. When I want to watch a good game, I have to go through the box scores of ended games and find one that meets good criteria from both teams, such as decent scoring, high assists, etc, and then I'll watch them... One really important thing for me to look at, just to note, is free throw attempts, cause nothing ruins a game more than constant stoppage. It's hard to find these perfect games but these gems occur every so often and 99% of the time, it's not the headline games. I've honestly only done this once so far as it's a bit of a hassle just to find some good basketball.

As for GSW, that's awesome what they're doing but I could care less.. They're winning over 90% of their games in blowout fashion, so what's the point in watching them. ESPN highlights every single thing they do anyway so it's not like you'll be missing out on something. Dominance is not must see TV, good competition is, which is why so many people wait til the playoffs to start watching the NBA.

As for drama, that definitely plays a big part of the NBA's success in this media filled generation. Having a team to hate is huge for the NBA's casual fan. Everyone watched the Heat because they either wanted them to win or lose but it was always two sided for the most part, hardly anyone was indifferent to them. Honestly, I think it would be better if GSW were a hated team of the NBA instead of advertised as.... the NBA. You'd think it'd come with the territory of being the best team but times are changing I guess.

[rabbitsfoot8]

You must have really high standards for him if you seriously expect him to win a title with a roster like the one we threw out there in the Finals last season (or 2007).


So once ...again....Lebron needs more help...got it. Geez

[AJ37]

I certainly don't consider the Warriors bad for the NBA. If anything, it's a perfect example of what can happen if you draft correctly instead of throwing money at free agents.

[miltk]

Don't kill the messenger here, I found this article to be very interesting and couldn't find a thread on here discussing it;

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/golden-state-warriors-stephen-curry-good-for-nba-012816



I would explain the drop in tv viewership possibly on the large # of Laker games being broadcast as I doubt they have the same impact that they had in previous seasons. However, I think I am overall in agreement with the author. Never have I seen a season that seems this lopsided. Even last year in our naivety there was almost a feeling that there were 8 relevant teams in the West. Up until a couple of weeks ago it was pretty much a consensus that 3 teams had a shot. Then one of those teams massacred the other 2.

The Warriors are great, no one is disputing that. However are they GOOD for the league? Have they made the regular season more irrelevant than it had already become? Is this the worry that some people feel deep down if they ADD Durant?

Discuss.

it's never bad to have dominance or dynasty,,,so far for gsw - dominance. it leads the way into the future. it creates a paradigm for how the game should be played. it's good for fan interest. without dominance there is only mediocrity - the game being comfortable with the status quo. ucla and college basketball. bama and college football. russell and the celts. tiger and golf. bolt and the sprint. spurs and nba.

everybody is required to step it up and that is good for the sport. my only problem is i never liked the 3pt shot - it has ruined the game in so many ways. move the line back to 25' and eliminate the corner 3, and the 3 becomes the bonus shot it was meant to be.

Why does you dislike the 3pt shot? Shooting is apart of basketball. Why not reward it? It hasnt been a problem thus far, and the second someone leverages it to win, pop and fans speak up against it?

it was a "reward" when it was first introduced...that's why they gave the shot an extra point instead of the normal 2 points. it is no longer a reward shot. it is a shot that EVERY player is practicing, including centers. it is a shot that every player makes. it is a shot that gives players who aren't good enough to play a position, a chance to make money just shooting 3's. it is a dumbing down of the players skillset. it is making players too lazy to mix it up because it's easier to shoot the 3 where no one will bother them. it is players shooting the 3 when they only need 2 points. i'll take the 3, but 23' is too close. make it 25'9" and make it a REWARD like it used to be.

[Soupman]

The NCAA 3 pointer is way too close.

The 3 pointer is to reward expert shooters taking a difficult shot. Not a slightly above average difficulty shot for mediocre shooters to chunk away with.

The NBA 3 pointer is fine where it is. The warriors are not bad for the NBA they are great for the NBA only they don't have a villain.The Spurs are a classy organization with class act,hard hat lunch and pail players.The Cavs are friendly,"cool" and very charitable. Only the clippers can be sold as a villain. They are not as good as those teams.

The current cap structure is bad for the NBA.

Why not have 8-12 teams as fun to watch and as skilled as the Cavs/Spurs/GSW?

[pass first]

Apparently the Warriors aren't as "good for basketball" as the people on this forum keep telling me they are; ditto for the Spurs.

The ratings are down almost 20% from last year and the Warriors & Spurs have never been better; yet when Jordan/Kobe/Lebron were winning ratings were up -- conclusion, Euro-ball doesn't sell in America.

The NFL has woman-beaters all over the field, concussions, guys getting suspended for roids every-other-day -- and the sport gets more popular by the minute; Americans like physicality.

The NBA has never had a cleaner image than it does now, but the product on the floor is so soft people are starting to tune-out.

It's time to bring-back hand-checking.

Your signature below this post just cracked me up..