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Recently I read an article saying the Adam Silver was thinking about going back to the East vs West to make the game more competitive. Apparently that was the main goal when they switched to the current format. Even going back to East vs West won’t be enough. So what would you all add to increase the competitiveness of it?

Personally I would go a little drastic with the selection of players and only allow those players to be from teams within the playoff hunt. Also I would limit the amount of players to 8. Give a bonus to those who make the team. And last the winner of the All Star Game would lock up home court advantage in the Finals.

Change it to US vs international
Have it after the season so players aren't as worried about staying healthy for the playoffs (yes player health is still #1)
Give a real incentive for top players to play in it (I don't know what that would be)

You can't. I'm all in for replacing allstar weekend with elimination tournament.

Allstar game is dead for as long as i can remember. Nobody enjoys it but fans in arena. Including players who probably hate it as well


And for love of the basketball gods NEVER do "skill challenge" again, it's some of most worthless peace of crap sports channel has to show. I would literally watch mascots painball tournament more ( hell, sounds like fun )

They should do away with the dunk contest and have a huge 3-pt tournament with everyone in it.

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I really think the all star game hurts any chance of expanding the nba fan base. When they see what’s going on it’s a huge turnoff

I’d make a ton of changes to All Star Weekend. It’s been turned into an unorganized mess over the last ten years.

1. End this Lebron v Durant pickup game format. It was dumb the moment they did it and it just needs to go back to East v West.

2. Give the game some kind of incentive like baseball. Give them something to play for. Maybe not home court in game 7 but something real, not like a cash bonus. Maybe something fan friendly like a league funded charitable contribution or something. I just think some stakes may help the game mean a little more.



3. I’d eliminate the celebrity game, it’s been a lame and un needed addition. I do like incorporating legends into the weekend. Keeping them in an event like the skills challenge is ok.

4. Bring back the positions distinction of the game. Just because the game is perimeter focused right now doesn’t mean that’s permanent. Centers earn their money too and deserve All Star recognition. Nicola Jokic and Embiid are proof of this.

5. Retool the dunk contest and do something to encourage higher profile guys to participate. First thing, fix the scoring to where if you miss a dunk you can’t get a 50 for that round. 50’s are only available if you make your first dunk.

6. Make the 3 point contest the premiere event on Saturday and give them more competitors.

The All-Star game has to have some point and relevance, so that there is "some" defense played. In the 2023 NBA All-Star Game, as the most recent example, for a game that had 359 points, there were FOUR FTs attempted. One team took ZERO, the other went 3-4 with FTs. There were 126 three-point attempts.

The easiest fix would be that this reverse to East vs. West and the winner gets game-7 in the Finals. But that is very unlikely to be agreed on in a CBA. So ....

pepe1991 wrote:You can't. I'm all in for replacing allstar weekend with elimination tournament.

There is a lot of league interest in this. Players would agree if it paid a LOTTTTT. Something like 50M to the winning team, 25M to the 2nd place team, etc.

But as a team would be playing with the same players, it will be hard for the players to avoid their normal play.

Adam Silver's innovative idea that these games would also count to the regular season record makes these must-win games.

..

never liked the dunk contest. at some point, there really isnt anything much new you can do and the scoring is very subjective. and agree with everyone else about bringing back the East vs West.

tiderulz wrote:never liked the dunk contest. at some point, there really isnt anything much new you can do and the scoring is very subjective. and agree with everyone else about bringing back the East vs West.

This is the most embarrassing photo the NBA ever forced on itself:






Edit: it all started here if you want to watch a truly awful dunk contest.
The "dunking" starts about the 4:30 mark. But the first 4 minutes get one in the mood for how bad this will be.

basketballRob wrote:They should do away with the dunk contest and have a huge 3-pt tournament with everyone in it.

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The dunk contest would be the best part of the whole thing if they actually fixed it and had people actually cared about participating in it. Like no one cares about Mac McClung or whatever his name is

Also I think AG getting robbed killed it for people to enter, like why bother if you can do the most creative dunks ever but lose to someone who just keeps dunking from the ft line

The dunk contest can be extremely entertaining, but not the way they are currently doing it

tiderulz wrote:never liked the dunk contest. at some point, there really isnt anything much new you can do and the scoring is very subjective. and agree with everyone else about bringing back the East vs West.

AG proved that wrong

Unfortunately creativity isn't always rewarded correctly

I’d make it conferences again and put some stakes on the game. Make a portion of every player’s contract hinge on the result (say 10%?) is only guaranteed if their conference wins. Players vote on the lineups. Maybe even put finals HCA on the line.

1v1 tournament!

Battle Royale. All 300+ players on the court at once. 1 ball. Whoever scores first wins.

Players get paid too much now to care about the ASG. It's that simple. When guys were still making less than a million dollars a year, 25 grand or whatever seemed like more money. Plus it was when you think inflation.

I haven’t watched a single all star game since east vs west came to a stop, so fixing that would be a good start


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Bensational wrote:Battle Royale. All 300+ players on the court at once. 1 ball. Whoever scores first wins.

Damn - this would be insane but so fun.

SOUL wrote:

J_Magic wrote:

Bensational wrote:Battle Royale. All 300+ players on the court at once. 1 ball. Whoever scores first wins.

Damn - this would be insane but so fun.

It would be great television. And watching Mark Cuban object (i.e. go out of his mind) would be good TV in itself.


When I was an early teenager we used to play a 20-on-20 game: no fouls called and first score wins. That was fun and every game someone got injured; usually a punch to the face.

SOUL wrote:

I love the audience non-reaction. They look like cardboard cut outs!