The All Star game in a nutshell

[Ritzo]

They need to give something to motivate the players, maybe an all-star ring or 500k to every players like the tournament they added this year.

[HomoSapien]

Silver + LeBron. For as brilliant as both are, the game has taken and product has taken a tremendous step backward because of them.

[Lalouie]

I don't think there's any clip that perfectly sums up why the all star game sucks now more than this one.

-No effort being given by either team.
-Embarrassing play.
-No one cares.

I look forward to the day when that one person gets named to the all star game, and gives 100% effort. But it looks like this isn't the year for that.

honestly, i have to say............wadd'ja expect and i mean this seriously. i didn't watch and haven't for a few decades

the hard truth is the nba is heading in that direction anyway. the only thing preventing the kind of scoring you saw in the asg is the lack of league-wide talent to do so. the score may have been obnoxiously grotesque but if you stop and think about it the asg is just an amped microcosm of the current state of the nba

anybody here who has been pro-offense(and ive seen this expressed in the media) which has been expressed in many ways like "the athleticism and skill level is off the charts in today's game", is really just another way of saying y'all like the hi scoring..........

welll, this is where the game you'll soon be getting. it's like marvel has been bombing because people are tired of it

[DavidSterned]

Shooting 3s isn’t exciting. Atleast if these guys were out here doing athletic dunks it wouldn’t be as bad. But not many of those guys exist anymore. We used to see some extreme athleticism displayed in the all star game.

Pride is missing as well

It's funny because for all the hoopla about how much athleticism has improved in the league, I look at that early 90s NBA landscape and I see so many amazing athletes there and I compare it to the current crop of guys and it just feels so meh. MJ, Pippen, Shaq, Robinson, Barkley, Olajuwon, Drexler, Nique, Nance, Malone, even a guy like Stockton who was incredibly fast, durable, and strong.

I know sports science has improved and the league has shifted to a more athletic and of course perimeter oriented build for its player prototype. So the bottom tier players probably are a little more athletic on average than your bottom tier guys were a few decades ago. But that hasn't translated to the stars really at all and if anything the stars from a few decades ago were quite a bit more impressive physically on average while the stars today are slanted more and more towards being skill guys who aren't particularly impressive athletically.

[SportsGuru08]

Shooting 3s isn’t exciting. Atleast if these guys were out here doing athletic dunks it wouldn’t be as bad. But not many of those guys exist anymore. We used to see some extreme athleticism displayed in the all star game.

Pride is missing as well

It's funny because for all the hoopla about how much athleticism has improved in the league, I look at that early 90s NBA landscape and I see so many amazing athletes there and I compare it to the current crop of guys and it just feels so meh. MJ, Pippen, Shaq, Robinson, Barkley, Olajuwon, Drexler, Nique, Nance, Malone, even a guy like Stockton who was incredibly fast, durable, and strong.

I know sports science has improved and the league has shifted to a more athletic and of course perimeter oriented build for its player prototype. So the bottom tier players probably are a little more athletic on average than your bottom tier guys were a few decades ago. But that hasn't translated to the stars really at all and if anything the stars from a few decades ago were quite a bit more impressive physically on average while the stars today are slanted more and more towards being skill guys who aren't particularly impressive athletically.

In a league where two sloths with the leaping ability of an arthritic tortoise are Top 5 players, the athleticism argument holds no weight as far as I'm concerned.

[Threezus]

Sorta proud of Trae in all 3 all star games he has been in he was the leading assist guy for his team lol. Ofcourse it really don't mean much in the grand scheme of things. But thats just who he is he always looks to get others involved more often than not no matter what type of game it is. Would be nice if this ever helped attract another star player to want to play with him in Atlanta one day but thats wishful thinking.

[evilpimp972]

Who was the last player who got severly injured during those peak all star game years ?
I keep hearing about injuries being the REASON they dont play hard... but ??

[Bloodbather]

Basketball without defense is not basketball at all. It’s drilling.

Good way to put it. The All-Star game looks like a shooting and layup drill session.

[Chokic]

This is just a overall microcosm of the culture we have today. There is just much less competitive drive than decades past. When you're basically jogging up and down the court playing at 30% intensity and jacking up threes like its going out of style and expecting the crowd to be entertained youre gonna lose even the most hard-core basketball junkie. Also, instead of reiterating the same complaints about the lack of defense the game has been lacking a bit of flair from the star players. Bc the game has shifted over to more efficency and analytics its phased out the extra flash we used to see from players back in the 2000s with the tricky handles passes and high flying dunks. Most of the players are really lacking in orignality everyone seems so cookie cutter copy paste template.

[Mavrelous]

All star as a concept to market the league is way past its relevance, in social media age, daily highlights cover all marketing needs.
To have an event to put the league on the map after the Superbowl, you need to have competitive element to it.
Keep the all star weekend and replace the ASG with the NBA cup final is the best way to approach it IMO.

[rapstarter]

We live in a world where star players barely care about regular season games. Just a completely different mindset.

I think the only way they take this a bit more seriously is if they force some kind of 1-on-1 matchups on rival players, make it a series of 1-on-1s and keep the score of the said matchups.

[AussieBuck]

Giannis used to play D in his early appearances and got a lot of flack for it. Need to give prize money like the mid season thing for players to bother.

[rapstarter]

All star as a concept to market the league is way past its relevance, in social media age, daily highlights cover all marketing needs.
To have an event to put the league on the map after the Superbowl, you need to have competitive element to it.
Keep the all star weekend and replace the ASG with the NBA cup final is the best way to approach it IMO.

I think this is a good idea. Also gives more weight to the NBA Cup by having all stars in attendance.

[Zvaart]

The NBA All Star Dame

fixed

[bledredwine]

Silver + LeBron. For as brilliant as both are, the game has taken and product has taken a tremendous step backward because of them.

Exactly. When your best player isn’t competitive, the league follows suit.

That said, commercialization doesn’t help either.

[dans1230]

Giannis used to play D in his early appearances and got a lot of flack for it. Need to give prize money like the mid season thing for players to bother.

Yes, they sucked the competitiveness right out of him. These games will go as the leaders of the league take them. Giannis while being one of the best players, isnt leading his fellow all stars. You need Lebron, Steph, or KD to establish it. Unfortunately all the guys who could acutally do, play in the same conference.

[firedavidkahn]

The most entertaining part for me was listening to Draymond. Dude cannot stop talking about the Wolves.

Wolves have officially broken that man. It's sad yet funny

[KdoubleDees23]

I'm surprised he didn't complain to the rim for the next five minutes.

hahaha it was the first foul call against the rim

[KdoubleDees23]

TBH the All Star game should be the same as the rising stars game.

Break it out by all stars for division, G league all stars, and have a bracket. Make it worth a bonus for everyone, or some incentive like home court in finals, etc.