Vote: How entertaining is this NBA season so far?

[walk with me]

Curious how people are feeling about this season so far from an entertainment perspective. Still early I suppose so things could change.

[RCM88x]

Cavs v. Warriors was probably the most fun I've had watching a NBA regular season game in almost two years. Probably since that epic Cavs and Spurs game in early 2015 when Kyrie scored 55 and sent the game to OT.

Other than that, its been great, lots of new faces playing well and competitive team battles as always.

[Duke4life831]

I think its been great. So far weve seemed to have avoided the big injuries which is great. I think the one thing that is missing from this year is the rookie class. It has been flat out dreadful so far. If it wasnt for Embiid it would be probably one of the worst in recent memory and Embiid wasnt even in this draft class.

[RaptorsLife]

its been pretty bad. alot of upcoming stars transtioning to stars. so next few years should be much better. i think playoffs will be better. besides 1-8 matchups. every series will be competitive. even spurs will have trouble with memphis or utah

[Domejandro]

This season has been the most painful to watch in the past decade as a Minnesota fan (the disappointment is crushing). Around the league? It has been an alright year so far, in my opinion.

[BackseatBoss]

Nothing special really. The main entertainment factors have been Westbrook's triple double watch, Embiid and Giannis. Other than that not that many intriguing storylines. The best teams are pretty much the ones most suspected, same with the worst. I only wouldn't have thought that Mavs would be that bad.

[Wargreymon]

Typical narrative we see every year. West is best. East is least. The most disappointing thing is this year's rookie class. Embiid aside, nobody else has shown flashes of being a superstar or even a perennial all star type of talent.

[Village Idiot]

In my opinion its the least interesting season in memory. There are two teams who we know will meet in the finals, barring injury. The regular season is pretty meaningless. I shell out hundreds of dollars a year for league pass broadband and rarely watch it. I doubt I will renew it next year.

What's wrong with the NBA?

predictability - concentrations of star players, biased refereeing. That no-call on the obvious charge by Draymond Green into Liggins got me fuming.

focus on players, not teams - I've never liked this about the NBA,especially during the Stern era with the blatant favoritism and basically building up Kobe's Lakers. It still happens but to a less blatant degree. I much prefer the NFL with its focus on parity and quality refereeing. The NBA would be so much more interesting if every game counted.

tanking - It's needs to be less rewarding to tank but also more difficult for star players to concentrate on a limited number of teams

slow games - too many time outs, too many free-throws

packaged arena product - I much prefer college sports and the MLS atmosphere to the crap served up in NBA arenas.

pussy basketball - I miss the 80's style of play. Bring back the enforcers. Would love to see the pretty boys Steph Curry, James Harden and Blake Griffin get popped on some of their weak ass drives instead of getting rewarded for minimal contact the basis of being stars. The NBA has basically become European soccer with a bunch of sissies going down with minimal contact and acting like they got shot.

[The_Hater]

In my opinion its the least interesting season in memory. There are two teams who we know will meet in the finals, barring injury. The regular season is pretty meaningless. I shell out hundreds of dollars a year for league pass broadband and rarely watch it. I doubt I will renew it next year.

What's wrong with the NBA?

predictability - concentrations of star players, biased refereeing. That no-call on the obvious charge by Draymond Green into Liggins got me fuming.

focus on players, not teams - I've never liked this about the NBA,especially during the Stern era with the blatant favoritism and basically building up Kobe's Lakers. It still happens but to a less blatant degree. I much prefer the NFL with its focus on parity and quality refereeing. The NBA would be so much more interesting if every game counted.

tanking - It's needs to be less rewarding to tank but also more difficult for star players to concentrate on a limited number of teams

slow games - too many time outs, too many free-throws

packaged arena product - I much prefer college sports and the MLS atmosphere to the crap served up in NBA arenas.

pussy basketball - I miss the 80's style of play. Bring back the enforcers. Would love to see the pretty boys Steph Curry, James Harden and Blake Griffin get popped on some of their weak ass drives instead of getting rewarded for minimal contact the basis of being stars. The NBA has basically become European soccer with a bunch of sissies going down with minimal contact and acting like they got shot.

While youre longing for the good ole days where thugs intentionally injured star players, you coukd have wrote the rest of that list of complaints 30 years ago without changing a thing.

I'd love to see your reaction if Draymond Green sent Lillard into the 3rd row on a drive to he hoop. My guess is you wouldn't be happy that the 80's were back.

[Mr. E]

Rockets fan, so this season has been incredibly entertaining

[AJ37]

I still keep up to date with the scores and news daily, but the only time I've actually watched basketball this season was Christmas day. Really not sure what it is because I even watched Miami during the 15-67 season so it's not the fact that we're headed towards a rebuild.

[ShazamDaShiznt]

pussy basketball - I miss the 80's style of play. Bring back the enforcers. Would love to see the pretty boys Steph Curry, James Harden and Blake Griffin get popped on some of their weak ass drives instead of getting rewarded for minimal contact the basis of being stars. The NBA has basically become European soccer with a bunch of sissies going down with minimal contact and acting like they got shot.

You would like to see two black ball players fighting each other on the court?

omg Joey look at those thugs fighting each other, man I can't believe they making millions while acting like some gorillas at the zoo

[ecogen]

While youre longing for the good ole days where thugs intentionally injured star players, you coukd have wrote the rest of that list of complaints 30 years ago without changing a thing.

I'd love to see your reaction if Draymond Green sent Lillard into the 3rd row on a drive to he hoop. My guess is you wouldn't be happy that the 80's were back.

While I agree with your main paint, Green would be one of the first to get his ass handed to him if we were back in the 80s. If he tried to pull those kicks of his in a game, he'd end up leaving in a stretcher. He's a fake tough guy and I'm surprised people haven't figured it out yet.

Overall the season has been decent, I've been mainly watching Rockets/Bucks/Cavs/Thunder. Playoffs will be something else though

[Apollo64]

It's better than the last season for sure, i mean last year was the least competitive regular season i've ever seen.

[cksdayoff]

one more month till simmons comes back, hopefully

[hoophabit]

In my opinion its the least interesting season in memory. There are two teams who we know will meet in the finals, barring injury. The regular season is pretty meaningless. I shell out hundreds of dollars a year for league pass broadband and rarely watch it. I doubt I will renew it next year.

What's wrong with the NBA?

predictability - concentrations of star players, biased refereeing. That no-call on the obvious charge by Draymond Green into Liggins got me fuming.

focus on players, not teams - I've never liked this about the NBA,especially during the Stern era with the blatant favoritism and basically building up Kobe's Lakers. It still happens but to a less blatant degree. I much prefer the NFL with its focus on parity and quality refereeing. The NBA would be so much more interesting if every game counted.

tanking - It's needs to be less rewarding to tank but also more difficult for star players to concentrate on a limited number of teams

slow games - too many time outs, too many free-throws

packaged arena product - I much prefer college sports and the MLS atmosphere to the crap served up in NBA arenas.

pussy basketball - I miss the 80's style of play. Bring back the enforcers. Would love to see the pretty boys Steph Curry, James Harden and Blake Griffin get popped on some of their weak ass drives instead of getting rewarded for minimal contact the basis of being stars. The NBA has basically become European soccer with a bunch of sissies going down with minimal contact and acting like they got shot.

You touched on so many of my gripes about the NBA. I'm also a league pass subscriber who's thinking about passing it by next year. The only thing I'd add is the pattern of players darting into defenders and being rewarded with FTs? It's often so obvious you'd think the refs would give an offensive foul, but it's usually FTs? Hard to defend anyone when all they have to do is throw themselves into a defender for FTs. Defenders are supposed to be entitled to their space as well, but these days it's like they're expected to give ground even near the basket. The pendulum has swung too far in favor of the offensive player IMO. It is laughable watching players falling all over the court looking to draw fouls. I mean, are we the only ones offended by guys going to the floor with little and sometimes no contact?

There was never a time when "thugs intentionally" injuring anyone was condoned in the league. Flagrant fouls happened and still happen, but it has never been accepted.

[ChartFiction]

superteams kind of ruined the regular season for me. It's just too obvious that it'll be Cavs vs Warriors in the finals. There was at least some chance in prior seasons for upsets. This season we already know no teams in the East are going to be able to compete against Lebron, Kyrie, and Love. And no team in the West is going to be able to compete against Durant, Curry, Klay, and Dray.

I'm watching games literally only to see how players are developing and I honestly don't care in the slightest who wins or loses. And a lot of the times, I'd rather just read about it or catch highlights of those players instead of investing 2 hours into watching a full game.

[walk with me]

pussy basketball - I miss the 80's style of play. Bring back the enforcers. Would love to see the pretty boys Steph Curry, James Harden and Blake Griffin get popped on some of their weak ass drives instead of getting rewarded for minimal contact the basis of being stars. The NBA has basically become European soccer with a bunch of sissies going down with minimal contact and acting like they got shot.

You would like to see two black ball players fighting each other on the court?

omg Joey look at those thugs fighting each other, man I can't believe they making millions while acting like some gorillas at the zoo

This is a serious post?

[Augusto61]

It's hard to top how competitive the 2013-14 season was. I'll give 4 stars because 2013-14 already has my 5.

[scrabbarista]

I had to go with a 5.

GOOD:
I've been in love with Embiid since he was in HS (I predicted to my friends he'd win MVP one day just from seeing a couple of his HS youtube vids), so finally seeing him hit the court has been a joy.

Seeing Giannis blossom into a future legend. Also tons of other exciting youngsters.

Can't wait to see Simmons, my favorite (entertainment-wise) college player of all-time.

The MVP race is actually meaningful and debatable for once.

The Warriors are a unique team in NBA history.

The players' skill level and athleticism are clearly at an all-time high, and the game's rules are displaying this to full advantage.

The Rockets, Harden especially, are an absolute delight.

For the first time since the 80's, the two best teams can be called true interconference rivals.

BAD:
Still can't stand seeing guys jump into defenders when they leave their feet, in an entirely unnatural shooting motion that should not be rewarded with free throws.

The ends of games take too long.

Michael Jordan is retired.

CONCLUSION:
All told, I'm 35 and I do not say this lightly: this is quite possibly the most entertaining season I've ever experienced.