How do you feel about the current state of the NBA?

[RexBoyWonder]

Shambels.

[goodboy]

Celtic sleeper agent trying to get a rise outta us eh.

[Dr_Heat]

Chicken wang

[eddieheatfan]

too much prima donnas to take the league seriously and its unbalanced as well with most of the talent out west

[Jaqua92]

I love this thread. We don't have on like this in the Celtics forum.

I post on a NASCAR forum, where posters spend time trashing the sport, and I always cite the NBA as a source of relief. The NBA is the closest sport to WWE today out of the main sports.

It appears the super stars play characters. They flop, they trash the media, and refs call games unfairly and inconsistently. The game is soft. Forget the 80s and 90s, the NBA isn't what it was 10 years ago. Glorified rivalries like GS and Cleveland aren't good and the NBA is just as concerned with the show as it is compitition.

Which brings me to the point I make in that NASCAR forum. This is less the NBA, and more so massive entertainment industries trying to keep up with the marketing movement of celebrities, and we move into 2017 and 2018. Unfortunately, sports just aren't about compition anymore. They are better defined as "competitive entertainment".

It's too bad, but I think we can still find joy in it

[Bishop45]

OP Seppuku'd himself?

I like it from an entertainment based point, politics with players become tiresome tho. Warriors created another threshold for competition and it has everyone on their toes... I appreciate it

Wish the Kobe-Jordan like killer stuff was still around but different eras, different levels

[Lilseb93]

The offseason is fun. The regular season is pretty boring after a while. It goes on for too long. There's too many games. Then super teams and super stars run the league so you know only 2-3 teams are going to win the title. In other sports, you feel like you have a chance even in the wildcard. Especially in football and baseball. My team won two World Series from the wild card. In basketball, you know the 1st seed is going to spank the 8th seed and it's basically predictable until the Finals.

I still like the NBA, but it definitely has major issues.

[Daffy]

Too many max contracts and players being overpaid. Market value doesn't exist anymore.

[Mos_Heat]

Unbelievable amount of talent.

Unbelievably bad competition.

Too much phuckboys.

Do not like 80 3PTA combined era, but that's just me

[El Alonzo scowl]

It sucks because we suck.

[SCHeat]

It's the same as it's always been for the most part. The experience of Nuggets fans in the 80s was probably pretty much the same as it is in 2017. People always remember the great finals and conference finals and gloss over the the league has always been about superteams.

I do wish players hated each other a bit more though.

[Vertical Limit]

Its slowly fixing itself. Boston is now becoming a competitor, Philadelphia is on its way up, Cleveland is no longer just riverdancing into the Finals, they will see a 6-7 game series at least once this upcoming season in the eastern playoffs.

So the east is now a little more competitive.

And the West, Houston needs to do that melo trade. Lakers has a long way to go still. Spurs need to stay healthy. GSW will also meet a challenge.

In the end itll be GSW vs cleveland for the fourth time but at least itll be more competitive.

[DWadeno3]

The only thing that bothers me is the lack of defense being played, even in important games. The NBA was on a really good path in that regard, but seems to have regressed.

[Slot Machine]

I definitely think my peak NBA enjoyment level was right around '09-'11. Obviously, since we experienced so much success I loved 2012 and 2013 (and even 2014 to an extent) but examining the league as a whole, I think the best basketball was played in the late '00s era. Some of that comes from me being younger and newer to the NBA then but I think the league on a whole played better basketball and was simply more competitive and unpredictable. Team-wise, I think unipolar teams (Dwight's Magic, LeBron's Cavs the first run, Melo's Nuggets) are simply more engaging and create a better storyline than teams with multiple stars.

I think the one exception to that was our 2011 team. The Decision was a one-time event to me where superstars teaming up generated so much more emotion because it was the first time anything like this happened. So in 2011, you had the infrastructure of the late '00s with an "anybody can win" mentality and a ton of good teams because the stars were so spread out while also benefitting from the interest and attention the Big 3 generated. LeBron coming here opened Pandora's Box in a sense, causing all these stars to move everywhere which is great for player freedom and in making free agency almost as intriguing as the actual season, but hurtful, in my opinion, to the league as a whole.

All in all, I miss the unpredictability of the playoffs and I guess, how much cooler it seemed to me watching guys like LeBron, Dwyane, and Dwight carry casts of role players and face off in the playoffs. Definitely still a huge NBA fan but it isn't quite the same for me.

Also think the 3 point-shooting was at a better level in the late '00s where it was a significant part of the game without completely taking over the strategy of the game as it has done in this era.

Rose-tinted glasses definitely apply for me but I tried to be objective.

[HIF]

When did players stop wanting to earn a title?

Is a ring for KD joining GS the same value as a Big Ben Detroit ring?

[King_Supreme]

I love the NBA right now, you have the established teams like the Warriors and Cavs going at it, and you have a ton of young talent worth watching(Minnesota; Phoenix, Milwaukee, Philly, LA, etc).

I can't wait to see Lonzo have a great game only for his dad to talk his ****. DLo bout to become an All Star player for the Nets.