Why the NBA is becoming an Air Ball

[thefranchise2k5]

While the NBA enjoyed its "heyday" in the 1980's with superstars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, and Isiah Thomas, the league is starting to become as enjoyable as watching Ben Wallace shoot a free throw. What has led to the demise of the game? I will list the top 5 reasons why the NBA is becoming a Ben Wallace free throw...

5.Too Many Teams! There are way too many teams in the league these days...30 to be exact. With only 16 teams making it to the playoffs, that leaves 14 teams that won't be playing in the post-season. Out of those 14 teams, half of them don't even deserve to be in the NBA, let alone to play against a JV high school basketball team. Last year, the Memphis Grizzlies were 45 games back of the Western Conference leading San Antonio Spurs... 45 games. That's more than half the total amount of games played in the season. Granted, they did tank the last month of the season in order to try to get the 1st pick in this past year's NBA draft. The NBA draft lottery works by giving the teams with the worst records the best chance of landing the first pick in the NBA draft, which encourages teams to purposely lose. Come the last month of the season, a good amount of teams are in competition to secure the worst record. What happened to the integrity of the game?

4.Relocation The Los Angeles Lakers, the New Orleans Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Utah Jazz. What do they all have in common? The team names have nothing to do with the cities that they are located in. Do you know why? BECAUSE THEY USED TO BE LOCATED IN DIFFERENT CITIES. Doesn't the Minneapolis Lakers, the Charlotte Hornets, the Vancouver Grizzlies, and the New Orleans Jazz make more sense? Franchise relocation hurts the NBA, not only with funny team names, but because it demonstrates that the NBA is ran by money hungry businessmen who care nothing about the fans beside the revenue they bring in. The Seattle Supersonics could very well become the latest example of franchise relocation with their owner threatening to move them to Oklahoma City. The city of Seattle has embraced the Supersonics for over 35 years, longer than most marriages!

3.Tim Donaghy Ever since the news of former NBA referee Tim Donaghy betting on NBA games that he officiated in came to light, the NBA is no longer as enjoyable nor as pure as it once was. Now whenever an official makes a questionable call, it makes you wonder what his motives were to make the call.

2.The Officiating This goes beyond the Tim Donaghy situation. The officials have been getting progressively worse the past few years. With all the ticky-tack fouls called recently, the games never gain any fluidity. Also, the officials give superstar treatment to certain players. It's impossible to guard certain superstar players because the officials will call a foul on their opponent for practically breathing on them. Now, in the same situation with an unproven player on offense, the officials will swallow their whistle and let the opponent play aggressive defense. All I want from the officials is consistency... and lately that has been a big problem. A big part of basketball is adjusting as the game is played. For example, if you know that the officials are calling a lot of fouls, you probably won't play quite as aggressive defense. If you were fouled the next time you took a shot and the officials didn't call it you would be very frustrated because the officials are being very inconsistent and are calling the game differently on both ends of the court. This can prevent a player from ever adjusting in a game and making it a guessing game of what you can and can't do.

1.Flopping I could have put this under the officiating, but I believe this deserves its own section. Flopping has become the biggest problem facing the NBA game today. Flopping occurs when a player tries to win an academy award by faking the extent at which the opposing player either bumps or runs into them. There is a certain amount of contact that should be allowed between the players without calling a foul and usually flops happen after this type of contact. The rules need to be changed in order to punish the player taking the flop instead of rewarding them and until this happens, the NBA game is being diminished as players are trying harder to win an academy award than trying to play good defense.

[Storm Surge]

I think flopping should be no-call, that is just the best way to do it, if the refs think it is a flop, don't blow the whistle.

But the biggest thing is, the NBA has softened the league on the perimeter to allow for more offense, now every thing becomes a foul that teams can flop knowing that they can get calls. When the NBA was physical in the 90s, no team would flop really because they knew that the likelihood that they would get a foul is low.

[exkonvict]

I don't know what team you are watching, but the NBA is playing at the highest level of all time right now. Players get more and more athletic every year. This season has been one of the best seasons, with good competition, in a long time.

[mattyj]

how does New Orleans Hornets make no sense but Charlotte Hornets does? I can understand, Lakers, Jazz and Grizzlies, but the Hornets arguement doesnt make much sense?

As for "only 16 teams make the playoffs" - thats still silly, more than half the teams make the playoffs, thats too many...Only the best of the best should be in the playoffs...

"The NBA draft lottery works by giving the teams with the worst records the best chance of landing the first pick in the NBA draft, which encourages teams to purposely lose."

So let me get this straight, you think the top pick in the draft should go to the best team? Yep, that makes sense

[theGreatRC]

The thing I hate is when players jump into another player to get a foul. They aren't even fouling, but refs call it any way.

[treis]

how does New Orleans Hornets make no sense but Charlotte Hornets does? I can understand, Lakers, Jazz and Grizzlies, but the Hornets arguement doesnt make much sense?

Some British General or something said that Charlotte was a hornet's nest of rebellion during the Revolutionary War. Hence, Charlotte Hornets.

[terrences]

The refs bet on their own games. Enough said. NBA.

[Manocad]

Somebody get this guy a tampon before he ruins a good chair.

[thefranchise2k5]

So let me get this straight, you think the top pick in the draft should go to the best team? Yep, that makes sense

mattyj, did I say that anywhere in the post? I'm just discouraging tanking and think that all the teams that dont make the playoffs deserve an equal chance of getting the 1st pick.

[UTMCretin]

4.Relocation The Los Angeles Lakers, the New Orleans Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Utah Jazz. What do they all have in common? The team names have nothing to do with the cities that they are located in. Do you know why? BECAUSE THEY USED TO BE LOCATED IN DIFFERENT CITIES. Doesn't the Minneapolis Lakers, the Charlotte Hornets, the Vancouver Grizzlies, and the New Orleans Jazz make more sense? Franchise relocation hurts the NBA, not only with funny team names, but because it demonstrates that the NBA is ran by money hungry businessmen who care nothing about the fans beside the revenue they bring in. The Seattle Supersonics could very well become the latest example of franchise relocation with their owner threatening to move them to Oklahoma City. The city of Seattle has embraced the Supersonics for over 35 years, longer than most marriages!

I can't even pretend to take this seriously.

[LLcoleJ]

Yes, the LA Lakers have truly hurt the NBA because they dont have enough Lakes in the LA area.

[J~Rush]

The one that bugs me the most is #4.

[Teen Girl Squad]

My god, why is it that NBA fans seem to hate watching the games. Rather they want to complain about some relatively minor issues and live in nostalgia lane. Just turn on classic nba games and really, really watch them rather than just stare at Jordan and I think youd be surprised how similar things were back then.

[HarlemHeat37]

the NBA seems more popular this year than it was last year..attendance is down, but tv ratings have been waaaaaayyyy up..and this is after the Donaghy incident..

[Dirty Water]

If you really thought the league was that bad, you wouldn't have written such a long preamble about how bad it was.

[thefranchise2k5]

the point of #4 isnt supposed to be about the names, its about how the teams are run by greedy money hungry owners... i was trying to add a little humor with the team names not making sense, but apparently I didn't do a good job of doing that.

And of course, you have to exaggerate your points a little bit when u write something. Do any of those points bug me on a daily basis? No. Have you ever heard a sports reporter or beat writer take a moderate stance on an issue? No. If i was moderate in what i wrote than there wouldn't be discussion! The way the BCS has no playoff system sucks and it gets scrutinized every day, but guess what... that still leads to discussion and people talking about it, which gives it attention and puts it in the spotlight.

[Craig McDermott]

4.Relocation The Los Angeles Lakers,

Doesn't the Minneapolis Lakers, the Charlotte Hornets, the Vancouver Grizzlies, and the New Orleans Jazz make more sense?

The Lakers were your heyday. Them and the Smelts. I don't see the connection.

[SlickWilly8]

I don't agree with everything you say, but I do think you make some valid points.
I agree with you whole heartedly on the super star calls. They drive me absolutely nuts! First of all if the super star's are so good why do they need the help from the refs? It's appearant that Stearn feals the popularity of the league is based around the super star's and he's going to do whatever it takes to make certain player's into super star's(at least that's how it feals sometimes)
I feal that it really takes away from the game and really makes it feal like watching wrestling sometimes. It just has a fixed feal to it, and that's not what I would call sport!

[CBS7]

I don't like how offensive players can just bowl over defensive players and get a foul call most of the time just because the defensive players don't have their feet set.

[CBS7]

Flopping is also hard to officiate. Refs don't have even a couple of seconds to think if a flop was a flop or a real drawn foul. They have a second or less to blow the whistle. The more obvious flops don't get called, though.