Will you miss the NBA?

[hawkdrummer1]

I live in an NBA city and I won't miss it - no wait Minneapolis doesn't count as an NBA city.

There's also no pro football, hockey or baseball teams in Iowa (yeah, I know about minor league baseball). But I'm pretty sure you'd get a different response on those sports.

 

[hawktransplant]

I will miss the NBA as much as I missed Thunder when he was banned.

 

[iloveyoularrystation]

The defense in the NBA is exceptional. After the influence of Riley's Knicks it was too good (or at least too physical) for a while. Rule changes were adopted, the Phoenix Suns proved that you can create a lot of buzz by scoring tons of points, and now there is a pretty good balance between offense and defense. If you want proof of the great D, look at how great college scorers (JJ Redick, soon Kemba Walker) struggle so mightily to get the ball in the basket in the NBA.
QUOTE]

I was with ya right up till that the defense is exceptional part. Honestly I don't know how anyone can objectively call the defense in the NBA good, let alone exceptional. Players in the NBA play defense (great, decent, or good) when they feel like it, and they only seem to feel like it about 5 defensive series a game if that. You sit through a game and guys aren't playing defense, its all one on one, i'll pretend to stand in your way, you pretend to stand in mine. Exceptional? That's just a foolish statement brutha. I'll let ya get away with they play decent defense in the NBA, but exceptional?

Honestly I will not miss a second of the NBA, I hope its gone for good. The NBA makes me think the Nascar fans actually have something when they call that a sport. The NBA is the only "sport" that's faker and more scripted than pro-wrestling. The whole thing is a farce. WWE called and said they should stop making up so many storylines because they're getting ridiculous.

 

[Hawkfan3318]

Hell yes....

My brother and I were talking about this last night. I said I would miss NBA more than NFL.

1. Hawkeye Football
2. Hawkeye Basketball
3. NBA
4. NFL

Now if baseball would stop and never come back.... thatd be great. The worst part about summer is all the baseball on ESPN. I do like me some web gems though.

If baseball were not on ESPN throughout the summer, what else would be? Tennis? Bowling? The WNBA? NO THANKS! This is why I hope their is not an NBA lockout, because I feel that ESPN would run out of things to talk about and once they are done talking about college basketball for the day, what else is there? Nothing..

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

For me, the NBA died when Jordan retired. Now the NBA is filled with rosters of kids who left college early. I love pro football, but the NBA is in the same league as MLB ... You can't keep track of rosters any more so it is hard to get any real attachment to one team.

The NBA game (and the college game for the matter) went downhill when kids left college early. Now you have college teams with freshmen and sophomores starting, and for the superstar college programs, their rosters completely change each season.

It used to be a big deal when you landed a McDonald's player ... Now, if you land one it pretty much means you will have the kid for one season tops. The NBA season is lonnngggggg ... The playoffs are okay but the regular season is a bore.

I honestly can't name the starting five for any NBA team. When I was growing up, I could easily identify the majority of starters for most teams. But, that is the name of the game ... It just took away my interest ... Growing up, I always thought it would be cool to have a professional team in the state of Iowa. Now, I could care less. Give me the Hawks and that more than fills my sports fix ...

 

[tm3308]

15 years ago, I wouldn't have even noticed the NBA being locked out.

However college BB is nearly unwatchable for me these days and that pushed me to the NBA. There is very little talent and when the NBA lockout is lifted and the 1 year out of highschool rule to be drafted is eliminated there will be almost no talent in college BB.

Bottom line this lockout needs to happen. NBA salaries are out of control. NBA owners need to stop throwing money are around and running their franchises like a fantasy league team. Sometimes you need to take a few steps back to move forward.

I'm still not sure about the lack of talent in CBB in the event that the 1 and done rule is lifted. That only makes high school seniors ELIGIBLE to be drafted. It hardly guarantees them a roster spot, or even a selection. There is no rule that says they have to be drafted. If nobody wants to take the risk, then the majority of those players will go to college, ideally with a rule similar to MLB (Must stay in school for at least 2 years if you enroll at a 4-year school).

Now, regarding all the posts about the myths about the NBA: I bought into those (particularly the "no defense" myth) until this season. I stopped paying much attention to the league after Jordan retired (the second time), because some of those "myths" were not so mythical for 5-7 years. I just stopped watching and kept the same perspective regarding the league (foolish).

But now? There is quite a bit of VERY good defense played in the league (which is something that I love to see). Nowhere near the kind of "thug life" (or "get mine" attitude), either. I mean I can't stand LeBron, but he's certainly no thug. Players like LeBron are great for the NBA. I don't think he's going down as the greatest ever (not even close), but he's extremely talented and (now) very polarizing (in a good way), which only draws more attention to the league, which in turn dispels the myths with many fans like myself, and increases the popularity. The NBA is on its way back.

I won't necessarily miss it just yet, as it's just not that high on my priority list (more of a college guy). But in a few years, that may change.

1. College football
2a. MLB
2b. NHL
3. College basketball
4. NFL
5. NBA

 

[NewMexHawk]

I haven't watched the NBA for I don't know how many years now...14 or 15 years? I must admit that I watched about one quarter this past year because there wasn't anything else on but after the quarter turned the TV off.

 

[Maddog81]

Haven't given the NBA a thought since MJ won his last title and permanently rode off into the sunset from the Bulls.

 

[MultipleDundieAwardWinner]

For me, the NBA died when Jordan retired. Now the NBA is filled with rosters of kids who left college early. I love pro football, but the NBA is in the same league as MLB ... You can't keep track of rosters any more so it is hard to get any real attachment to one team.

No, YOU can't keep track of rosters. Plenty of people obviously do. People here seem to have a bizarre way of projecting their beliefs onto others; "If I don't follow the NBA, no one must follow the NBA". Plenty of people follow the NBA, many of them are under 40, which is why most of you fellas preaching the church of St. Jordan from your Hover-Rounds don't notice.

 

[tm3308]

No, YOU can't keep track of rosters. Plenty of people obviously do. People here seem to have a bizarre way of projecting their beliefs onto others; "If I don't follow the NBA, no one must follow the NBA". Plenty of people follow the NBA, many of them are under 40, which is why most of you fellas preaching the church of St. Jordan from your Hover-Rounds don't notice.

Obviously there are plenty of people who follow the NBA pretty closely. But I'd wager that the percentage of people who do that live in Iowa are quite a bit lower than the national average. And since this poll question is being posed to (mostly) Iowans, there aren't many people around here who follow the league closely, mostly due to the reason NewMexHawk gave, in combination with the fact that there is no NBA team in Iowa.

 

[528646]

No, YOU can't keep track of rosters. Plenty of people obviously do. People here seem to have a bizarre way of projecting their beliefs onto others; "If I don't follow the NBA, no one must follow the NBA". Plenty of people follow the NBA, many of them are under 40, which is why most of you fellas preaching the church of St. Jordan from your Hover-Rounds don't notice.

LOL, I gotta give you props for the Hover-Round reference.

I think you have a point here - I used to be trapped in that exact line of thinking "If I don't follow the NBA, no one must follow the NBA", but I know better now. I think some of it might have to do with the market you're living in though, too. Obviously, if you are living in an NBA market, you're going to have a lot more interest, but I think just in larger sized cities/metro areas there tends to be more interest. I'm not exactly a man of the world by any means (I've spent my whole life around IA), but I know here in the DSM metro, there is a LOT more NBA talk around the watercoolers/locker rooms/etc than I have noticed in other cities/towns I have lived in.

BTW, I know tons of NBA fans over the age of 40, so I'm not convinced this is specifically the result of an age divide.

 

[MultipleDundieAwardWinner]

LOL, I gotta give you props for the Hover-Round reference.

I think you have a point here - I used to be trapped in that exact line of thinking "If I don't follow the NBA, no one must follow the NBA", but I know better now. I think some of it might have to do with the market you're living in though, too. Obviously, if you are living in an NBA market, you're going to have a lot more interest, but I think just in larger sized cities/metro areas there tends to be more interest. I'm not exactly a man of the world by any means (I've spent my whole life around IA), but I know here in the DSM metro, there is a LOT more NBA talk around the watercoolers/locker rooms/etc than I have noticed in other cities/towns I have lived in.

BTW, I know tons of NBA fans over the age of 40, so I'm not convinced this is specifically the result of an age divide.

I did a little research, and found that the NBA has, by far, the youngest fan base of established, American sports leagues, and it is the only sport with a median age under 40. Also, unlike football, which is national, and baseball, which is regional, NBA fans seem to have an urban concentration. I don't mean urban as a synonym for black, but rather younger people tend to flock to population centers, and population centers like basketball more than sparsely populated areas.

 

[CHShawk]

I will definitely because IMO fantasy hoops is way better than fantasy football or baseball. I also enjoy watching the NBA, granted not as much as college hoops (probably because I'm not attached to an NBA team) but I enjoy watching the best players in the world go at it.