Being a lifelong fan of the NBA, I just accepted that the NBA would be forever, and one of the biggest professional sports leagues on the planet. However, it appears to be shedding fans and that has got me thinking, why is the NBA failing?
The first and most important reason is the league management chose to promote stars over teams. If you look at other sports, team always comes before the stars on that team. When you promote the individual, you embrace celebrity culture, and that's very risky.
And this risk paid off to begin with, but now, look at the NBA and the stars are old or problematic. They're problematic in that they represent lifestyles that people abhor, or politics that people do not vote for. There has been a slew of NBA coaches and players going on anti-Trump tirades that immediately alienate 50% of the fanbase. Then you have players recorded as saying things such as; 'there's no party like a Diddy party.'
The second point is that players are grossly overpaid. Players are paid so much they don't really need to turn up, they'll be rich whether they win or not. After a few seasons, players probably don't even need to work again. This has removed all incentive to perform.
Third, rule interpretations have allowed offense to dominate defense. Does the three point line need to be moved? No, they just need to allow defense, and not allow players to get such easy looks at the basket. If they allowed defensive specialists to sit on sharp-shooters like Steph Curry, you wouldn't see that many three point attempts. As soon as three pointers become harder to attempt, you'll get real basketball.
The same applies under the basket as well. Hand checking, and preventing free movement of the offense has to return to the NBA, the referees issuing off-the-ball fouls for all kinds of imagined infractions needs to stop.
Fourth, the cost of watching games has become too expensive. This applies whether attending games or watching online or on the TV. Bring the cost down. I can understand local area broadcast blackouts, but the cost of going to the game has to be reasonable to compensate.
Fifth, stop rigging games. This occurs both during the regular season and the playoffs. We've all seen it and the fans are leaving.
Sixth, instead of allowing players to 'load manage' or miss games; how about reducing the number of games played? There are 30 teams, if each play home and away, that's 58 games for each team. If you add an extra game against division rivals, that's a total of 62 games compared to the 82 games teams play now. Make each game worth more to players and watch them compete. If you think about top tennis players, they may compete in 20 tournaments a year, but do not play round-robin and so if knocked out they get less play. In a league like the NBA, teams have to turn up and the coach can substitute players, which is a form of load management anyway. Thus, 62 games is about the same load a top tennis player would face. Correct me if I'm wrong.
But back to first, the most important correction - take the politics out of sport, demote the stars, and pay all players less.
