Why does the NBA decorate a useless in-season tourney more than the Finals?

tonyreyes123 · Post #1 » by **tonyreyes123** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 10:16 am

Seriously. NBA Finals feels mundane visually and honestly most of the finals in his tenure have sucked. Why is it like this now?

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UcanUwill · Post #2 » by **UcanUwill** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 10:27 am

I disagree that NBA cup is useless, but I miss the giant Larry O'Brien stamped in the middle of the court during NBA finals, I am not sure who pushed back against that and why we got rid of it.

Anyhow, the real answer to this tho, everyone knows its NBA finals, it does not need visual clarification that game is important, where cup final in December or November, whenever it was, a lot of NBA fans aren't yet used to to idea of winning a trophy mid season, so the league tried their hardest to point out to all casual fans, that hey, it is not a random regular season game.

giberish · Post #3 » by **giberish** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 10:48 am

Yeah, the Ist kind of needs the over the top presentations - or at least it doesn't detract from it. That sort of look would feel tacky and cheap for the NBA finals.

Bloodbather · Post #4 » by **Bloodbather** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 11:18 am

UcanUwill wrote:I disagree that NBA cup is useless, but I miss the giant Larry O'Brien stamped in the middle of the court during NBA finals, I am not sure who pushed back against that and why we got rid of it.

Yeah, agreed. That is the biggest thing missing from the presentation.

I think they got rid of it because it was slippery or something. But they do full on painted court for the Cup now, so I don’t get why they haven't brought it back. You don't even have to do it inbounds like the past, just place it somewhere visible. But make sure it's around. It was a bigger deal than they thought, it's an instant identifier and you remember that visual when recalling Finals from the past.

Doranku · Post #5 » by **Doranku** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 11:22 am

ESPN's production, analysts, and commentators actively make the finals worse for viewers to watch. Something needs to be done. The finals should not be on ESPN.

Optms · Post #6 » by **Optms** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 11:29 am

UcanUwill wrote:I disagree that NBA cup is useless, but I miss the giant Larry O'Brien stamped in the middle of the court during NBA finals, I am not sure who pushed back against that and why we got rid of it.

Anyhow, the real answer to this tho, everyone knows its NBA finals, it does not need visual clarification that game is important, where cup final in December or November, whenever it was, a lot of NBA fans aren't yet used to to idea of winning a trophy mid season, so the league tried their hardest to point out to all casual fans, that hey, it is not a random regular season game.

Disagree on the Finals not being more presentable. Yes we all know it's the Finals. But do non basketball fans? They should be pushing this non stop to continue to grow the game.

We have the two best teams in the world playing at the highest levels and it looks like another Tuesday game presentation wise. Stern knew what he was doing. This all falls on Silver. He is calling the shots.

Wingy · Post #7 » by **Wingy** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 11:32 am

They don’t want the Finals to suck.

tonyreyes123 · Post #8 » by **tonyreyes123** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 11:44 am

UcanUwill wrote:I disagree that NBA cup is useless, but I miss the giant Larry O'Brien stamped in the middle of the court during NBA finals, I am not sure who pushed back against that and why we got rid of it.

Anyhow, the real answer to this tho, everyone knows its NBA finals, it does not need visual clarification that game is important, where cup final in December or November, whenever it was, a lot of NBA fans aren't yet used to to idea of winning a trophy mid season, so the league tried their hardest to point out to all casual fans, that hey, it is not a random regular season game.

Bucks won the IST, our parade is next week…

Nobody cares about that **** man

dhsilv2 · Post #9 » by **dhsilv2** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 1:03 pm

tonyreyes123 wrote:Seriously. NBA Finals feels mundane visually and honestly most of the finals in his tenure have sucked. Why is it like this now?

Read on Twitter

One of these looks great. The other, I'm turning off the TV. What is wrong with people.

UcanUwill · Post #10 » by **UcanUwill** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 1:32 pm

Optms wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:I disagree that NBA cup is useless, but I miss the giant Larry O'Brien stamped in the middle of the court during NBA finals, I am not sure who pushed back against that and why we got rid of it.

Anyhow, the real answer to this tho, everyone knows its NBA finals, it does not need visual clarification that game is important, where cup final in December or November, whenever it was, a lot of NBA fans aren't yet used to to idea of winning a trophy mid season, so the league tried their hardest to point out to all casual fans, that hey, it is not a random regular season game.

Disagree on the Finals not being more presentable. Yes we all know it's the Finals. But do non basketball fans? They should be pushing this non stop to continue to grow the game.

We have the two best teams in the world playing at the highest levels and it looks like another Tuesday game presentation wise. Stern knew what he was doing. This all falls on Silver. He is calling the shots.

Ok, I agree with that, but I still do not think it needs big visual presentation. As I said, I wish trophy was on court, and the score graphics could have gold patches or smth, but thats enough. Most people hated IST courts anyway, I bet if you went this far for NBA finals, most fans would find it tasteless.

PierceFan4ever · Post #11 » by **PierceFan4ever** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 1:43 pm

At least have a finals sign or logo somewhere on the court or on the jersey…cheap asses

Stan · Post #12 » by **Stan** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 1:48 pm

UcanUwill wrote:I disagree that NBA cup is useless

It's wild to me anybody can have this take lol. I'm sure Buck fans are reveling in their IST cup win, rocking their IST champion shirts after getting bounced in the first round.

UcanUwill · Post #13 » by **UcanUwill** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 1:58 pm

Stan wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:I disagree that NBA cup is useless

It's wild to me anybody can have this take lol. I'm sure Buck fans are reveling in their IST cup win, rocking their IST champion shirts after getting bounced in the first round.

Almost every in season cup in any league serves one purpose, to make part of the season when it happens, more interesting, and NBA cup did just that. In fact, they accomplished that very much so.

Also, every in season cup is bonus at counting all time great teams. Teams that compete for the league title will not find solace that they won cup, when they lose league title, but sometimes, same team wins league title, cup, or any other tournament, and that season is remembered as all time great one and it only enhances an all time great team debates. Like when Man City won every single tournament few years back, and people in 100 years will still remember that season and all those players will be in record books. In 100 years, NBA will have teams that won both titles same year, and teams will be remembered even more than a champions that peaked at the end, but teams that proved to be the best entire whole time and that will be part of all time great teams debates. I do not get how that part is hard to understand for NBA fans. You think Man CIty came into this years FA cup final thinking - well, we lost Premier and CL, but if we win this, its all good... OF course not, but it was still trophy they tried to win, because that is the point of every Sports team that ever existed.

Infinite Llamas · Post #14 » by **Infinite Llamas** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 2:59 pm

PierceFan4ever wrote:At least have a finals sign or logo somewhere on the court or on the jersey…cheap asses

They literally have computer generated ads on the court but they couldn’t find any Finals graphic? I’m sure it was considered but it might have taken away from the “ambiance” of sponsor ads plastered all over the digital hardwood.

Johnny Fontane · Post #15 » by **Johnny Fontane** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 3:07 pm

Doranku wrote:ESPN's production, analysts, and commentators actively make the finals worse for viewers to watch. Something needs to be done. The finals should not be on ESPN.

You can find high school basketball play by play commentators with a way more natural feel for the booth than Doris and Richard Jefferson. One of the most cringeworthy poor displays in a big game ever. Breen should just commentate the game alone

whatisacenter · Post #16 » by **whatisacenter** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 3:15 pm

I knew I was watching the finals and if posters weren't complaining about the court graphics I would have never noticed it.

chilluminati · Post #17 » by **chilluminati** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 3:15 pm

Easy, the finals are an already established important event that people will watch. The NBA Cup is new and needed flash and gimmicks to get people on board. As we all know, gimmicks are just that. Gimmicks.

Upperclass · Post #18 » by **Upperclass** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 4:07 pm

It was to give LeBron a "chip" for his documentary. It will be done away with once he retires next season.

Michael Bradley · Post #19 » by **Michael Bradley** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 4:51 pm

Doranku wrote:ESPN's production, analysts, and commentators actively make the finals worse for viewers to watch. Something needs to be done. The finals should not be on ESPN.

ESPN is awful for every sport they have rights to. I get the sense that ESPN hates this matchup and feels that even if the quality of the games are good that it won't get the engagement/viewership that a bigger market matchup would, so they are half-assing it. Completely bush league on their part, but not surprising. They wanted a Finals where they could pan to the crowd and have a bunch of celebrities to make it feel important, and things like that. Their view on sports is just not good for the leagues themselves. The NBA had the option to move on from ESPN to something else for equal money during their media rights talks and decided to stay with them, so that's on Silver.

Calvin Klein · Post #20 » by **Calvin Klein** » Fri Jun 6, 2025 4:57 pm

Because it's a gimmick and nobody cares. So they need to have something for people to talk about