Mark Cuban: Warriors being the bad guy will be good for NBA

[cochiseuofm]

Well I call bull on alot of your friends. And alot of my friends. Cause you and me both know those same guys who threaten not to watch will be the same guys rooting for Durant to fail. How will they know he's failing, how can they see it?

They'll be watching. And people making way too big a deal anyway. Its happening, get over it. It wont be the last time either. Nobody stopped watching baseball when the Yankees won every arms race and was winning championships for the better part of a decade. They just bought pink yankee hats

I buy that people will pay attention to the Warriors and their playoff games, even more so if they win 70 games plus again. I don't know if I buy that the league as a whole will be more popular because of it. I would quantify that based on regular season attendance and viewership for every team.

But anyways I guess we'll see.

[Prius]

I hoesntly don't think the Warriors are any better than last year. They just added another shooter(which they didn't even need) and weakened their defense. I think they should of tried to get someone who could rebound and also could get easy buckets in the post. This Warriors team isn't unbeatable and if they don't win this year, I could see Durant leaving seeing how he's only on a 2 year deal with a players option.

Replaced a sucky ass dude (Harry B) with superstar 1st ballot hofer, replaced most of the depth, resigned a few of the young dudes who could get more minutes and contribute and already knows the system. Warriors definitely got better.

[rich316]

I hoesntly don't think the Warriors are any better than last year. They just added another shooter(which they didn't even need) and weakened their defense. I think they should of tried to get someone who could rebound and also could get easy buckets in the post. This Warriors team isn't unbeatable and if they don't win this year, I could see Durant leaving seeing how he's only on a 2 year deal with a players option.

Replaced a sucky ass dude (Harry B) with superstar 1st ballot hofer, replaced most of the depth, resigned a few of the young dudes who could get more minutes and contribute and already knows the system. Warriors definitely got better.

IMO West/Varejao/Zaza/Clark is a steep downgrade from Bogut/Festus/Barbosa, particularly on defense. They still have Iggy and Livingston, so I would never argue they are worse than last year, but if one of the big 4 goes down I would say they are clearly worse.

[NBAfan3024]

I hoesntly don't think the Warriors are any better than last year. They just added another shooter(which they didn't even need) and weakened their defense. I think they should of tried to get someone who could rebound and also could get easy buckets in the post. This Warriors team isn't unbeatable and if they don't win this year, I could see Durant leaving seeing how he's only on a 2 year deal with a players option.

Replaced a sucky ass dude (Harry B) with superstar 1st ballot hofer, replaced most of the depth, resigned a few of the young dudes who could get more minutes and contribute and already knows the system. Warriors definitely got better.

IMO West/Varejao/Zaza/Clark is a steep downgrade from Bogut/Festus/Barbosa, particularly on defense. They still have Iggy and Livingston, so I would never argue they are worse than last year, but if one of the big 4 goes down I would say they are clearly worse.

We are in a far better spot if one of the big 4 goes down as at the very least we would still have a superstar with two other stars.

Chances are Durant will be with the bench unit when they are out there. The times Barnes was there with the bench was when things got hard

[bstein14]

If the Warriors win the next 4 our 5 championships its going to be really, really bad for the NBA. With the Heat, at least they stumbled and lost the first year and fourth year of having a super team assembled.

[bmurph128]

If the Warriors win the next 4 our 5 championships its going to be really, really bad for the NBA. With the Heat, at least they stumbled and lost the first year and fourth year of having a super team assembled.

They won't win that many in a row. We look at what they did last year and think of adding Durant as if it's strictly an addition to their team - but there will be a lot of bumps along the way.

There is no way they end up being 2015 Warriors + Durant - just doesn't work that way. Adjustments will have to be made to rotations and scheme....defense will suffer and offense can only improve so much. In the regular season next year it's a virtual lock that they will be worse than last year. The loss of quality depth will hurt, not just because of the players they lost but it's more adding to the team.

At the end of the day, half the roster will have been turned over. People will look and say "the important" players remain, but the reality is, half the team have new coworkers. Most of their time will be spent together off the court, and that's an adjustment as well.

They are going to be really good, but think about it in an all time context - will any of these players be rated as highly as Kobe and Shaq all time? LeBron and D Wade? Answer to both is hell no. This team has two superstars and two good players - but for the most part, outside of Durant they could all be a product of the system they play in - and now we're changing it? Yikes.

[Nazrmohamed]

Well I call bull on alot of your friends. And alot of my friends. Cause you and me both know those same guys who threaten not to watch will be the same guys rooting for Durant to fail. How will they know he's failing, how can they see it?

They'll be watching. And people making way too big a deal anyway. Its happening, get over it. It wont be the last time either. Nobody stopped watching baseball when the Yankees won every arms race and was winning championships for the better part of a decade. They just bought pink yankee hats

I buy that people will pay attention to the Warriors and their playoff games, even more so if they win 70 games plus again. I don't know if I buy that the league as a whole will be more popular because of it. I would quantify that based on regular season attendance and viewership for every team.

But anyways I guess we'll see.

During the regular season fans watch thier team play locally mostly and fanatics will still get league pass. But ill predict this right now. The Warriors/Cavs will get the highest ratings next year in nba history. I think that's the test.

[Guest202]

It's terrible for the NBA because parity doesn't exist. This is why the NBA will never reach NFL levels of interest in this country.

Parity has never existed in the NBA.

[nbafan38]

Classic WWF/WWE stuff in play.

A strong heel team is great for the NBA.
An unbeatable heel team is not.

GS already became the bad guys, that's what they were last year. They got away with breaking the rules, and they still won. People believed they were unbeatable, but the face overcame the insurmountable odds.

Now they actually are unbeatable. Its the equivalent of a tape delay PPV where everyone already knows who wins. That's not good for basketball.

Thissss The warriors will be watched heavily for awhile but once they are up 3-1 or 3-0 in every playoff series the ratings will start to go down. There is no way watching GS pummel teams all playoffs long will get better ratings than watching them play back to back 7 game series.

[Optms]

If the Warriors win the next 4 our 5 championships its going to be really, really bad for the NBA. With the Heat, at least they stumbled and lost the first year and fourth year of having a super team assembled.

Exactly how is it bad for the NBA? Don't just tell us its bad, actually detail why it would hinder the brand of the NBA. Because I don't believe that's the case. The league has always generated peak interest when one team stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

The Celtics/Lakers dominance of the 80s. The Bulls dominance of the 90's (Ratings soared to All-Time highs still not seen today) and the early 00's Lakers title runs.

You as a fan can be disgusted with what transpired this Summer but you can never convince me that Durant signing with the Dubs will hinder league popularity when there is indisputable evidence saying otherwise. Cuban is right. People will tune in to watch the W's lose and then they'll get over it and appreciate what they are seeing. Just like what happened in Miami.

[floppymoose]

Everything will change once the games start. GS isn't going to win 70 games next season, and I say this as a GS fan. If they are better, it will be in the playoffs. And one injury to the big 4 and they won't be better at all, they'll be significantly worse.

People will see that they are beatable and many of the "I'm done with the nba" crowd will come back.

[nbafan38]

Everything will change once the games start. GS isn't going to win 70 games next season, and I say this as a GS fan. If they are better, it will be in the playoffs. And one injury to the big 4 and they won't be better at all, they'll be significantly worse.

People will see that they are beatable and many of the "I'm done with the nba" crowd will come back.

They will;need to be down 2-1 in a playoff series or at least 2-2 before people feel they are beatable. I think the finals will do well just because it's Lebron vs Golden State round 3 but both the eastern and western conference playoffs may get awful ratings this year unless GSW or Cle is tested at all.

[Dennis 37]

It's terrible for the NBA because parity doesn't exist. This is why the NBA will never reach NFL levels of interest in this country.

Parity has never existed in the NBA.

True enough, so what never has been determined is whether or not aggregate attendance and ratings of all teams, or at least all playoff teams, are higher than existed during non parity years.

If there were 4-5 teams in each conference fighting it out for top seed right to the final week, interest in RS games would be greatly enhanced.

[Skin]

It's terrible for the NBA because parity doesn't exist. This is why the NBA will never reach NFL levels of interest in this country.

Parity has never existed in the NBA.

The NBA can't touch NFL ratings.

[Knicks_Fan2]

If the Warriors win the next 4 our 5 championships its going to be really, really bad for the NBA. With the Heat, at least they stumbled and lost the first year and fourth year of having a super team assembled.

They won't win that many in a row. We look at what they did last year and think of adding Durant as if it's strictly an addition to their team - but there will be a lot of bumps along the way.

There is no way they end up being 2015 Warriors + Durant - just doesn't work that way. Adjustments will have to be made to rotations and scheme....defense will suffer and offense can only improve so much. In the regular season next year it's a virtual lock that they will be worse than last year. The loss of quality depth will hurt, not just because of the players they lost but it's more adding to the team.

At the end of the day, half the roster will have been turned over. People will look and say "the important" players remain, but the reality is, half the team have new coworkers. Most of their time will be spent together off the court, and that's an adjustment as well.

They are going to be really good, but think about it in an all time context - will any of these players be rated as highly as Kobe and Shaq all time? LeBron and D Wade? Answer to both is hell no. This team has two superstars and two good players - but for the most part, outside of Durant they could all be a product of the system they play in - and now we're changing it? Yikes.

Of course penciling them in for 4-5 titles is absurd and the probability of them doing so is very low (though certainly not 0%.). That said, KD is a huuuuuuuuuge addition to their team and it's not about regular season wins but about how you defend them. The Thunder and the Cavs basically showed that you have to switch on every single one of their screens to succeed consistently and, fortunately, the cavs had Tristan Thompson and Steph could not take advantage of the switch to halt the switching (due to injury or great defense or both) but now it will be incredibly difficult to stop their screen roll game with KD. Are you switching a guard onto Kevin Durant? You're dead. Are you trapping steph even for a second? You're dead. Do you try to go under? Steph open 3, you're dead. That is just a basic pnr...the amount of different options they are going to have on offense is the likes of which we have not seen in this league in my lifetime (on paper).

And, of course, on defense, they can now play small and have wayyyy more length on the floor with KD protecting the rim along with Draymond. The Warriors had difficulty last year beacuse their best defensive matchup with Iggy hurt really was putting Draymond on LeBron (no great answers there but it's something) but that would leave the lane open giving other guys an opportunity to get good shots at the rim. KD has shown that he is an unreal rim protector when a team needs him to do so and he will do that for the Warriors.

Many many folks are underestimating how big this is for the Warriors just because their team, via regular season record, was so great.

[Knicks_Fan2]

It's terrible for the NBA because parity doesn't exist. This is why the NBA will never reach NFL levels of interest in this country.

Parity has never existed in the NBA.

The NBA can't touch NFL ratings.

That is partially due to scarcity of the product and has little to do with competitive balance.

[EvanZ]

Do people root for the Harlem Globetrotters to lose?

Did people root for Michael Jordan to lose? Or Tiger Woods when he was in his prime?

Warriors will bring new fans to the NBA who want to see dominance and beauty in a sport. It is known.

[Skin]

Parity has never existed in the NBA.

The NBA can't touch NFL ratings.

That is partially due to scarcity of the product and has little to do with competitive balance.

The best NBA Finals game this year got a 11.8 share rating... can't even touch a regular season NFL game in the mid 20s... A poor game might get in the mid teens. NBA Finals are a scarcity, so that erases majority of your point.

[floppymoose]

Parity wouldn't make NBA ratings go up, imo. It's a different product than NFL.

[NBAfan3024]

4 titles in 5 years is damn tough but realistic if they stay together and add depth going forward. Cavs have the best chance next two seasons to beat the warriors but there aren't any major threats right now