(No PS action – we’re out the door any minute. Sorry and stuff.)
So our mention the other day that we were passing on League Pass this season sparked quite a bit of email – all of which came from people in agreement.
Not only that, but our rationale caused our parents to forego LP, as well, which means the power of our persona can influence even those who spawned us.
Just to repeat. the Cavaliers general (and all-but-admitted) malaise from November to roughly mid-February (and you can add the first two rounds of the Playoffs, as well) was both painful and insulting to watch. Longtime readers will remember that we boycotted the team 7 different times. Longertime readers will remember we hadn’t missed a Cavaliers game in 4 years, despite living in Los Angeles.
This, combined with 31 national TV appearances this year, means we don’t really feel the desire to be obligated to watch them until they prove they’re playing with some passion and desire, rather than “to get any of those seeds that are higher than 9″.
Anyway, our thinking (obviously) is that we’re not alone here, and at that point the NBA players’ apathy toward the regular season is officially costing the league money. This is a problem, and there’s no easy solution.
Oh, wait – yes there is. EVERYONE SHOULD TRY HARD WHEN THEY PLAY. The question becomes then – how to get them to do that?
Please email us at yaysports@gmail.com if you’re doing the same – it would be interesting to see the response.
Here are more of those bog preview things – we’re out all day, so see you tomorrow morning…
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Utah Jazz
Daily Basketball
Taking it to the Rack
Basketball John
Seattle Supersonics
Sonics Central
Portland Trail Blazers
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The Inferno
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Easiest way to get an athlete to try every time is no gaurunteed contracts. If they fear being cut for under performing like the Patriots do to their players they will bust their ass every night. But that will never happen.
Nice job spelling guaranteed; that’s why you’re failing POS443. Christians can’t spell, that’s why we killed your Jesus.
I’m not ordering NBA league pass, not because I’m not excited about the possibility of an Atlanta Hawks v. New York Knicks game, it’s just because basketball doesn’t mean anything unless it’s on a national game OR it’s the playoffs.
Yeah that’s right, my attitude is the same as the Cavaliers. I don’t truly care about the NBA until the playoffs and/or I get a chance to talk smack about the Cavs.
Do you have any proof that the players are not trying? Cause to me it looks like they are trying, maybe you have HDTV and things are clearer from your vintage point.
Boney but did you used to get it?
Of course guaranteed contracts are the way to go, but the union will never give that back unless the NBA completely collapses and has to be rebuilt from scratch ala the NHL.
Yeah, I used to get League Pass. There’s honestly no point in getting it from Game 1 because it takes about 30 games for the season to start having some sort of meaning to it. There’s 82 games, not all of them are going to be fun to watch or even really worth watching. I had the same problem with the baseball “extra innings” package as well. After Opening Day the season is boring until the All star break, then after the break is when the season really gets good.
But yeah, I had league pass… nothing to write home about, especially if you were watching Knicks game and boring Clyde Frazier was one of the announcers.
It’s going to be an odd season. Sure, Lebron will mail it in, but then we’ll have a few rotation spots up for grabs and some athletic kids vying for their next contract.
Dwayne Jones is somehow the incumbent 4th big, and he’ll see minutes with Z and Donyell another year older, but don’t you think Cedric Simmons will be pushing him?
And sure Boobie played well in that Pistons series, but now everybody is raving about Shannon Brown and Devin Brown is the best PG of the 3.
Unless Lebron is contagious, we’ll have some folks getting after it. This team might be worth watching just for those times when the 2nd unit is in.
Since you’re not planing on getting it how ’bout we make a deal? I’ll pay for it and a broadband connection for you one of those tv-over-the-internet things and you’ll let me stream it whenever I want. Norway is one of like 4 countries in the world that doesn’t show basketball and tv. Instead we get cross country skiing and ski jumping from November ’till March. Boooo!
How about 4 playoff berths per conference instead of 8.
There’s your solution and it took me 1 minute to think of it.
No easy solutions. Ha!
Yeah but that’ll never happen!
Carlo it’s not the money, it’s the time commitment – if it’s there, I’ll probably watch, then I’ll be pissed because it was a waste of time.
This is rich people talk. I’m lucky to get the national ABC game of the week on my rabbit ears BW TV.
And yeah, I’m cool. I call black and white “BW”.
In my perfect NBA world there would need to be the following 3 things:
1) No guaranteed contracts but every team must spend to the cap.
2) Only the three division winners plus a wild card make it to the playoffs in each Conference.
3) Every team that doesn’t make the playoffs has an equal chance of winning the draft lottery; each team, one ping pong ball, performed on live TV in front of each team’s representative.
No more mailing it in for the playoffs. No more signing a mega deal after a career year and watching him do sub par for the next 7. No more tanking seasons or going on the cheap. What money the NBA looses from one less round in the playoffs they’ll easily gain back in a better regular season product and division races at the end of the season. Perfect.
I can’t imagine how awesome that would be; every team, going for blood, every game.
That’s why it will never happen.
A smaller change that might have a chance of being implemented: make contracts more incentive driven. There are inventives in contract already, on top of the guaranteed money. But if, say, about 25% of the money was based on incentives I think you’d see players putting it together. GM’s would have to be careful to make the incentives the right sort of thing. For instance don’t make Marbury’s incentive to score 25 a game. And don’t make Randolph’s incentive to eat a cupcake every quarter. Team based and wins/losses/playoff seed stuff would probably be best.
Fans get a better product, players mostly still get their money. Might work. There are rules in the current CBA about incentives, so I’m not sure if this is something that could be done now. In the future it could be made part of the CBA that 25% (or more) of the money has to be non-guaranteed because it was based on incentives.
Jeremiah-
In your example you discuss how there won’t be any tanking because each team that doesn’t make the Playoffs will have an equal shot at winning the lottery. Once a team is “out of the race” for a Playoff spot won’t they just give up? If they aren’t going to make the Playoffs and if losing doesn’t give them a better shot at a better pick, why would they go “all out” in the rest of their games.
I think it would be interesting to setup a system where-by the worst teams have the worst shot at a top pick. The percentages for first pick and order between the bottom-feeders and the Playoffs just-misses will not be drastically different, but it might provide enough incentive to try and win every game.
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