Yikes. When one realizes that the sport I was talking about is about 72% in terms of minority players, the statement "NFL > NBA" is not only true, but has no racial subtext whatsoever.

Make that first post here your last.

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I agree they should make the regular season more meaningful

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I think they went too hard on the rooting for players vs team thing. If you like your team you’ll watch through some shit seasons, but if you root for players and they’re either on at a bad time or on a bad team it’s much easier to not bother watching.

Only the people that don't really care the league think that.

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Get a load of Frank bullying another new guy!

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

This is the crux of it. They have individualized it to the point that the actual product becomes less interesting. I'm much more of a basketball than I am a Lebron or Kawhi fan.

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More violence! I'm suing the Wisemen if this heinous post isn't removed!

My aging eyes can only take so much.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I'm all for mocking sycophant writers who have been pushing this angle like it's a good thing for years, but I have a hard time attributing much of the decline to that stance. I can't really see any changes the league itself has made to prioritize the promotion of individual players more than in previous eras (hell this was supposed to be the year of parity and duos everywhere), though I guess you could say the current decline is a long-term consequence of how the sport has been built for decades now.

It seems to me that it really comes down to the East blowing for so long and even now being limited to 2-3 mid major markets with good teams here. It's really on par with how imbalanced the Western conference was during the Showtime years.

And yeah, I agree with the players vs. teams thing to a point. They couldn't sustain the frenzy generated by this past offseason with injuries, peculiar China flap, etc.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Yeah Golden State's decline, Zion Williamson's injury, Durant out for the season, coupled with Load Management for the better players is severely effecting the product.

They have to do something about the Load Management garbage. The optics of it alone are terrible.

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Since the start of the 2019-2020 NBA season game thread, the NBA game thread has 10 pages, the Julie DiCaro thread > 50 pages.

Julie DiCaro > NBA

People watching the games seem to like the G-League's experimental 1 free throw rule. Prolly get adopted in the NBA next few seasons:

That would be absolutely fucking horrible. It would lead to way more fouls being called as the penalty of fouling just got dramatically cut.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

How you figure?

Oh, sorry. I misread it. nevermind. I still don't like it.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I would change it to the player gets to take 1 free 3 pointer from the top of the key as opposed to a free throw. Players are already more concerned with searching for contact rather than hitting the shot, taht would get 1000x worse if they knew they were going to get a single free throw worth 3 points.

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that is good point

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Hell, just have every free throw take place where you got fouled. Fouled on a dunk? You're right in front of the rim. Fouled heaving it from 1/2 court? 3 shots from the division line.

didn't think of that, but makes sense it'd encourage everyone to play like Harden and flail into contact behind the arc. you convert a 24 foot 3 point attempt under defense into a non-defended 15 footer for 3. I guess it's what they're doing in the G-League currently, on an experimental basis. Not sure if that's all teams/all games in the G-League. Definitely speeds up the pace of play. Might have to work out a few kinks before they try it in the real league. One guy I heard talking about it said he thought they'd have to increase the amount of time in the 4th that it reverted to the current one FT = one point rules. Anywhere from 4 minutes (min) to the entire 4th quarter is what he was saying. Otherwise thought the one shot per foul rule should make it to the NBA.