I used to watch the NBA. I don't anymore.

[GimmeDat]

I agree to an extent. I don't have the experience of 90's basketball, but I'm not as intensely emotionally invested as I used to be. Just comparing from the Thibs/Rose Bulls to now, the game has changed a lot even in that time. That team was a gritty, ugly basketball team with one particularly spectacular player at the head of the offence, but I loved watching that team battle all the time.

Now the Bulls are really good again, and for the most part they're fun - they're frantically energetic and pesky on D, and we have insanely talented isolation scorers. The team is funner than most, and they don't rely on a wild volume of 3's. That said, the up and down nature of the game now doesn't feel balanced in some way (I'm talking league wide). That's a credit to the increased talent level, I think.. good on them, 3pt shooting is better than ever, and as players have become more talented within the demands on the modern game, it's harder to shut them down. It feels like teams, and especially elite scorers, don't necessarily have to work as hard to get to their spots, the shots are there and the teams that manage to make a higher % win the day.

There's something to be said about a scorer like DeMar DeRozan, watching the creativity, footwork, and variety of skills to create baskets. I'm not sure the game in it's current form rewards players like that as much as it should.

Maybe I'm just a bit older and I've seen it all before and I'm a little less in awe by the game. But I miss the feelings I had in my prime of NBA fandom. I still love it, but an average game, particularly not including my team, is less enjoyable to me.

[Sedale Threatt]

OK, maybe you guys have a point about 3-point shooting.

Read on Twitter

[wco81]

Curry never did anything like that.

[Lala870]

Yeah, the game has changed. If you fell in love with aspects of the game that have now changed then that is unfortunate. Obviously, the NBA product is only growing more popular globally. I think change is inevitable.

None of the growth is organic I assure you that.

With the quality of these refs and the league letting Kobe and Lebron run a train on it the last 20+ years? It definitely cant be because of good basketball and fair competition.

[Scalabrine]

This is enlightening. Some of the takes we get around here make much more sense now. I didn't realize people who don't watch the NBA still comment on it so much.

It's insane to me. How does a MODERATOR start a thread saying he doesnt even watch basketball??? What the hell is the point? Why even follow if you don't enjoy the product?

Discussing topics on a message board? Insanity.

The topic is "I don't watch basketball" on a BASKETBALL message board. Maybe he should go play tiddlywinks and crossword puzzles.

[Duke4life831]

Haha I dont get why the OP got any crap for his post. It was a well thought out post. Even if you dont agree with his conclusion, it wasn't some dumb idiotic post.

Its like so many people get up in arms anytime anyone has anything negative to say about the game. Whats that word everyone uses to describe KD again???

[perempe20]

Watch on YouTube

big mistakes...

[Roscoe Sheed]

there is something quite bizarre about the current NBA. So much of the outcomes are determined by how hot a team is from 3 on any given night.

It seems like there are more random lopsided outcomes than in the past, even when good teams are playing- case in point GSW vs Bucks, Nets vs Bulls, and GSW vs Bulls recently

[Rakkasan]

The game has changed because no one wanted to see a team spend 22 seconds trying to force the ball in to a slow-footed center. The rules have changed to give the people what they pay for, seeing the best athletes in the world performing their trade.

[guess_wh0]

I don't watch NBA games either but thats because I can pretty much watch the whole game in 10 minutes on youtube than having to spend 2.5 hrs. 30 second highlights were never enough but these "Full game in 10 minutes" was a game changer for me.

[Tottery]

OK, maybe you guys have a point about 3-point shooting.

Read on Twitter

LMAO. That was super dramatic, but I do see easier shots passed up for 3's quite a bit. I can't lie about missing diversity in the game. I even miss Tim Duncan's boring play. I use to complain he was dull, but now I see it was a work of art.

[SichtingLives]

there is something quite bizarre about the current NBA. So much of the outcomes are determined by how hot a team is from 3 on any given night.

It seems like there are more random lopsided outcomes than in the past, even when good teams are playing- case in point GSW vs Bucks, Nets vs Bulls, and GSW vs Bulls recently

It's funny how tweaks in the math of the sport can so completely dilute its foundation.

So much focus is made on playstyle which honestly isn't even the important factor and not addressed are the back and forth thrillers with 30 lead changes that go right down to the final possession, formerly the standard of a good basketball game . Used to be a common feature of the sport and now it's a fluke if it even happens at all. Thats a damn shame and a slap in the face to all fans of the sport. The majority of games, the ones that are "close" mind you not even the blowouts, still end with a silly drawn out charade of free throws and stoppages with players sauntering around, thinking about what they want to post on their twitter and instagram feeds. I know this sport is better than that because I've seen it at multiple levels of competition. It's about excitement, not playstyle.

So some nerds came along and found a more efficient way to win games, and then teams slowly adopted the principles when they saw one virtuoso and a great system make it seem possible for anybody to do. Ok, well good on teams for being competitive, and copycatting in the NBA has been around forever. And it's not just basketball doing this either. But what is lost is that sports are an artform, not a linear math equation. And when you turn human behavior into a small series of rote patterns, maybe even things a robot can do in the near future, or more aptly training lab mice which way to run through an obstacle course, the sport turns into a boring slog. Improvised jazz turned into a game of tic tac toe. But it's efficient though!

There is nothing interesting or exciting about 15 point swings and games where playing out the final quarter is often just a formality. Even the concept of a comeback is watered down now. Someday it'll come around, I put most of the blame on Silver for his non sport related, mad professor algorithm chasing leadership style. And can we just point out how funny/bizarre it is that newer fans are so mesmerized by a heave ho shot that has been in the game for 40+ years? Strange times.

[LivingLegend]

The game has changed because no one wanted to see a team spend 22 seconds trying to force the ball in to a slow-footed center. The rules have changed to give the people what they pay for, seeing the best athletes in the world performing their trade.

Oh the other side of the coin, the NBA is still garbage because nobody wants to see every 6'3" guard in the NBA jack 10 three pointers per game regardless of how good they are at it.

Watching a Forward/Center go to work in the post with moves is 10x more entertaining and skillful than a bunch of Guards YOLOing 3s like their are trying to win a big stuffed animal from the local fair.