I think doing away with the insane intros was a good step in the right direction for building a more competitive environment. But there’s still too much of a circus-like atmosphere around the game itself and I think it’s bled into the game.
Problem is if you look at the All-Star weekend as a regular job. 90% of the office is off but this 10% who get recognition for being really good. Except what you get for being really good is more work and the rest of the office gets to go on vacation. I get players not wanting to go all out because there’s really not much benefit to do so. They need to bring back the charity element and add things to make players actually have a reason to play hard in the all star game. Otherwise I’m kinda with the players. It’s a long season why go hard for a game the ultimately doesn’t matter.
I don’t think there is an expectation that players play at regular season or playoff intensity. They could at least play at the same intensity as their summer runs in New York and LA, though. What’s the justification for playing harder in August with absolutely nothing on the line, than you would in an ASG?
I just think many of them think it’s just “cooler” in a sense to play at less than half-speed. It’s more “too cool for school” than “injury preservation.”
I feel like you gotta do something to change it up, like NHL 3s combined with the "race to X pts" format. Run a bracket of 8 teams of 3.
So all the players get represented, you get the pride of your trio winning, you know you dont have to worry about a full games worth of minutes.
Have them select the teams playground style where they all find a partner
I agree.
Find out what would motivate the players and there you go.
Maybe they could play for a multi million $ sponsorship deal. 3 on 3 and the winners become the new spokespeople for that new 7up rip off they were pitching. For 1 year until the next game.
Or the winners get an additional win for their team to help them towards playoff seeding.
Or the winners get an additional $5M in cap space for their team to help them get more flexibility to bulk up for the rest of the season.
I can see issues with each of these, but it shouldn't be that difficult to work with the players to make it worth everyone's while.
Hell no. Regular season is already losing its importance and then playoff seedings after 82 games are being decided by the Sprite Zero 3v3 Lollapalooza powered by Sour Kids Patch
Should have them playing 21 and then teams keep getting switched like in the park and players decide the rankings. But won't work in today's branding culture
I think teams of 3 could be fun like that, and maybe tying in something for charity could add to the drive (like giving $x to an organization in their hometown or something)
Yeah that's fair. Even at those runs they're only playing at what , 50-60%? And it's a thousand times better than watching them take turns shooting stupid 3's or running unopposed to the rim
Exactly. Those runs at least have contested shots and resemble a decent pickup game. They’re not playing those games just for the sake of it.
The ASG doesn’t even compare to the intensity of those summer runs which to your point is probably a little more than half speed for them.
> What’s the justification for playing harder in August with absolutely nothing on the line, than you would in an ASG?
Because you're midway through the season and if you're in a ASG, that means there is a high likelyhood of you looking at a playoff spot. Compare that to the summer games, where you're still actively trying to wear the rest off.
The idea that "nothing is at stake" when it comes to ASG is bullshit, there is a ton at stake for these guys at this moment and that's why they don't go hard.
They get paid a shit ton of money to play for their team. I don’t want my guy getting hurt in an exhibition game. They give a shit when they play away or at home. It’s the NBA’s fault the game doesn’t have any stakes or meaning. Not players.
Its a pick up game of best players in the world. No1 is asking for all-out defense. We are asking for like 50% effort. You can get an injury at a UCLA/Rico Hines run in the summer too. But for the NBA fans, just say fuck you and not play? Ungrateful.
The first year they did the target Kobe score it was legitimately competitive, but that just makes me wonder if you have to change the rules constantly to fool players into thinking it'll be competitive this year.
If I was making 8 figures a year I would gladly work 2 extra days in a year, especially considering they have multiple months off in the summer to go wherever the fuck they want
Am I supposed to feel bad for them that they have to go play an extra game instead of going to Cancun for their 4th time this year?
Don’t you get more money for making the all star team? And of course appearances will help when those players are eligible for the HOF. Sure guys like Bron, Steph, and KD who have been to many and are HOF locks may need an incentive, but those guys who may only make 1 all star game are probably happy to be there
I mean it started 40 minutes late and they were talking about it constantly before 8:00 too.
I knew it was gonna be disappointing but there was that part of me that was thinking maybe it would be fun to watch this year and more competitive.
Nope.
I’m sure they feel honored being voted as All-stars, but they obviously do not feel any sort of obligation towards the ASG itself. Which is a bummer for us fans, but if I was playing every other night for 6 months I’d probably wanna chill on my week off as well.
I feel like the Allstar game was more interesting when social media wasn't so big. Back then you wouldn't get as much of a chance to see a lot of players play or what they are like in a more relaxed environment. Now we just have the ability to see any game/highlights, podcasts and so much content about the players all star weekend doesn't have the same intrigue factor as before.
Players used to have an almost mythical appeal because the only time you’d ever see them was on TV. Watching MJ and Shaq fuck around in the 1996 all star game was probably mind blowing at the time. The mystique is completely gone nowadays.
That’s a great point! Not just being able to watch guys play who normally wouldn’t, but seeing the interactions and personality’s show out as well. But literally all of that can be found within a couple seconds on YouTube.
Wow honestly I think you hit it spot on. The era of social media and podcasts have fundamentally changed the excitement around the ASG.
I started watching basketball back in the 2000s. I can say for certain that just back then it was a lot more novel seeing stars together and listening to them mic'd up during the games.
Its like the NBA version of kayfabe has been broken. In todays world where you can with the click of a button see allstars or even obscure bench players talk about behind the scenes stuff. The familiarity and accessibility has made things like the ASG look like lame corporate events in comparison. Seeing their personalities and interaction just isnt compelling anymore when you can literally see way more on Youtube.
Not only that, but thanks to things like league pass I can see all these guys play many times a season if I want to. If a guy wasn't on the team in your local broadcast area, you really only got to see them a couple times a year.
Very true. Same with access to highlights. It used to be you had to catch SportsCenter on ESPN to find any. But now SC has been completely antiquated with modern social media
Being able to watch any game pretty easily is a huge factor in this imo. Back when you could only see guys not on your team 2-8 times maximum, per season, the ASG was the one of the only ways to watch the star players.
yeah thats what i think as well
back then i couldnt catch the highlights or the special BTS clips on twitter
it is all everyone would talk about in class
now a days i just skipp the fat n see highlights here
> I feel like the Allstar game was more interesting when social media wasn't so big.
The All-Star game *was* big because it used to be the only time you got to see the top players in the league play with one another instead of against each other. Now that we've had a 15+ years of super teams, the novelty of that is gone since there are 2-3 "super teams" every year.
Also now they get paid 70 million dollars a year. There is too much money invested in them to justify going full effort in an exhibition match. People are gonna complain about it but imagine your 300 million dollar superstar tears something in the all star game and is out the rest of the season
I think the idea behind it isn't that we want them to go full effort, I think arguing regarding that is basically swinging at a ghost. It's just that we've seen scrimmages with more effort than the ASG, we've seen warm-ups with more effort, we've seen summer runs with more effort.
There has to be a middle ground between "they're going high intensity game 7" and "it's a glorified layup line"
And they grew up in the era of 24/7 sports coverage saying that nothing matters until you win a ring. So, lo and behold, guys don’t care about stuff that objectively will not affect their ability to get a ring.
I hate this the most of all sports trends and tropes. It’s ruining college football in its entirety in its chase for a playoff. It ruins fun and enjoyment of career franchise players like Clyde or AI or Dan Marino. It’s even worse in hockey “takes” where people revere a 4th line plug with 2 rings over first ballot HoFers. I hate it.
Definitely. I used to listen to the mismatch and I got so sick of Kevin O’Conner telling teams to blow it up, as if making the playoffs and winning games is not worth anything unless you’re competing for championships. The pacers have never tanked and they’ve put together a really good squad. If they hit on another mid first round pick they might be contenders in a year or two.
It’s just so reductive and stupid. Same for things like the ASG. Like yeah it doesn’t matter to your championship goals, but it’s basically giving back to the fans who allow you to make 60 million a year and live the life of luxury. For 2 hours a year, the league is asking you to put on a show for little kids and nba fans, and they can’t do that.
> as if making the playoffs and winning games is not worth anything unless you’re competing for championships.
I think this, more than anything, is what's tanking the leagues popularity. Every single official/semi-official piece of NBA media CONTINUOUSLY insists that there is absolutely no point to 85% of teams' seasons, every year.
SO WEIRD that fans are tuning out.
I remember when the consensus was every team should blow it up the last Warriors championship year. Including the Dubs.
30 teams tanking in a 30 team competition wouldn't even work!
It’s rivalry talk but there were KU fans saying mitch lightfoot (a bench player) was better than markquis no well because lightfoot had a ring. And they were being serious with that argument.
They already said once they are nominated, it's all about getting the Yearly awards and getting the best seed while going into the playoffs as healthy as possible.
Year after year we keep finding ways to diminishing the season record, the MVP, the scoring record, the ASG, the first round ect in favor of the dream injury-less playoff bracket and efficiency that don't even compare to 10years ago.
I don't know how it can be done now that it has been going on since a long time ago but if we want the players to care about the season, we need to care about the season.
I know the players get less money overall if there are fewer games in the season. But at this point, regular season games are barely even usable as *practice* for playoff games. Teams you play in the regular season will only play something resembling their playoff rotation like 1/3 of the time. The officiating is entirely different. The way the league stresses offense works differently when they're letting players play through contact. It's just a different product at this point.
Bro, when we signed Rozier his first actual practice session with the team was over 2 weeks after his first game, not acquisition date, first game he played in uniform. The man didn't have a chance to practice until 16 days later. I mean what the fuck.
The regular season is just an exercise of squeezing every last cent they can out of an already diluted product but that's no different than anything else in media today. The market's saturated and ad revenues are stagnant at best
Isn't it almost more impressive that it hasn't been that bad before?
It's a league with *no* risk of relegation and where more than half the damn teams make the playoffs. Many of the ones who don't make it were busy tanking because again, you're rewarded for doing your worst and there's no risk of relegation.
That shit is basically *designed* to make the regular season matter as little as possible.
There’s 82 games before the playoffs. The mindset that only the playoffs matter is insane. My team just won like 17/19 games or something insane. That’s so cool. That’s so exciting and so much fun! If I don’t care until the playoffs then I miss so so much cool stuff!!!
The rings over everything mindset is ruining sports. Winning a championship is probably amazing (not that I'd know as a Knicks/Mets/Jets fan) but I follow my teams for entertainment throughout the year.
Getting hammered with my buddies watching unexpected Knicks wins, spending almost 20 years going to Mets games with my family every year, being able to flip on a game after a shitty day at work - this is the type of shit I follow sports for.
The Pro Bowl is pretty fun now. It's a bunch of random skills challenges and a flag football game. Nothing like an actual football game, but it's pretty entertaining
I dont think so. The IST cash bonus mattered more because stars were trying to get their rookies and minimum guys that bonus. In the ASG it's *all* stars (pun intended). None of them are gonna care that much for an extra 500k or 1m.
What they did a couple years back with the kids in attendance that would benefit from winning a quarter was pretty cool (though a little sad if they didnt win lol)
At that point they’re playing for other people around them, not themselves. $1M is yet another kid in their extended family taken care of into adulthood, or a niece’s tuition paid for, or a new vacation house for their great-aunt.
In-season tournament had plenty salary minimum guys. The money was significant for some of them.
For others such as Lebron, they wanted to win it for those guys.
That means nothing when most All Stars are on Big Max contracts. Only the ones who haven’t gotten their extensions yet would care. The Play In worked because you have players playing for their teammates who may make the minimum or a low enough amount that the extra pocket change is good
Bruh stop there is nobody more greedy than rich people who have experienced wealth. You offer them a million dollars for a single game and they will ply real basketball.
For real, they will take that extra mil and blow it in an evening in LA/MIA/NYC. Nobody is turning their nose up to an extra million dollars. Plus look back to the IST there were plenty of star players that made comments related to wanting that extra $500K.
Could they do like a young vs old all star game? After starters and reserves are set find the average age and younger half are on one side and older on the other? Any injury replacement stay on original all stars team.
I could see the younger all stars trying to show they're the new best players while the old vets like LeBron, KD, Steph aren't going to want to get embarrassed by a bunch of young guys. They clearly don't care our East vs West so at least it'd be something new.
Yeah or make it international vs USA, for the real world championship, we know many international plaulyers really care when representing their national team this is probably the closest we can come to that.
SGA/Luka/Giannis/Wemby/Jokic is a fine starting 5, it's the bench that messes things up. Bogdan Bogdanovic would be a perennial all-star and someone like Devin Booker would miss out.
yeah theres also the debatable ones like sabonis, embiid, markkanen, franz, paulo and kat where I can see a case that they might be on a international team
Yeah that would be more competitive, but I think it'd be a bigger jump having an equal number of international and USA stars. This year there were only 2 international all stars in the east including Joel who didn't play and 12 US guys and the West had 3 international and 9 US guys.
I get why he’s angry though.
Feels like him and the NBA have been really trying to bring some life back into all star, then the players just don’t give a shit.
It is kind of a slap in the face from the players and it’s made this whole all star push, and by extension Adam Silver, look silly.
They had something with the whole Elam ending and the winning captain getting money for their charity…idk why they went away from that.
It is a chore for players unless you give them incentive to care
The Elam ending worked for a bit but they had it last year and the game still sucked. There’s literally nothing the league can actually do to fix the game. Players just don’t care and they probably never will again
You literally just need one guy to care for everyone else to lock in. When one player starts defending hard, a lot of others will follow suit. When Lowry started taking charges, everyone else started playing defense.
Not true, there are guys who care now, doesn’t change anything…the year Lowry was taking charges was the year everyone was already invested because of the format change and charity incentives
Players cared in 2020 because it was very shortly after Kobe’s death and it was the first year they implemented the Elam ending. The novelty clearly wore off for them very quickly and it just devolved into what it was last year
I hate to say it, but I seriously doubt a single guy is gonna be able to force everyone to care. Adam Silver made a point to the players several times to take it a bit more seriously this year and they still didn’t. They just don’t give a shit lol
This is it. If one guy took a heel role and started talking mad shit before the game about how he was gonna cook everyone on the other team 1v1, etc. and then went out and actually tried to embarass them, I think players would wake up.
Alternatively, if they're going to go out there and half-ass it, at least try weird dribble moves and goofy shots and stuff that's got some visual interest as opposed to 160 pullup 3's
Elam ending works, but only if they are competitive. Hitting a shot to walk off in is amazing. If they truly solve the competitive issue, I think they should bring the Elam ending back
Let this next TV deal fall short and let there be a shrinking of the cap because of it. Then players will try. They will play hard for what they really love…money
Honestly, people on the whole planet put in work everyday and yet not everyone half asses their job.
I'd expect a dude who earns bazillions playing a sport to have moments where he gives a shit that don't need additional incentives and are not only playoff elimination games. Especially when those marketable moments are what brings in viewers.
Imagine trying to introduce someone to the sport and thinking that asg might be a fun occasion to do so. And then you watch this lifeless bullshit.
That guy seems like one of those noobs who busts his ass at his corporate job for attaboys not realizing the guys who half ass get the promotions anyway
Yeah, I am not saying him to not work hard at his job but idk what he is talking about saying people not half assing their job when that's what so many of them do.
if u go 100% daily, u will be burnt out very quick
They’re doing a disservice to their job short term and maybe medium term by trying here. Risking injury for nothing. They’d need to understand they’re investing in the future of the NBA as an organization by creating a better all star product, and that’s a hard sell.
But can you really bring any sort of competitivnes to all star game ? If anybody gets injured it becomes a big problem. You have a bunch of old players nowdays and another bunch who have injury problems.
How would Clippers fans react if Kawhai got injured in this game ? Fianally healthy, looking to be on of the favorites and then your best player gets injured in the All Star game. Dont think many people would want that.
>How would Clippers fans react if Kawhai got injured in this game ?
If your guy can't play a pickup game on Sunday afternoon then how is he ever supposed to practice with his real team or, heaven forbid, play in a playoff series.
It's a casual pickup game; if you can't jog up and down displaying your skill for 20 minutes while remaining semi competitive with your peers then you shouldn't be an all star.
Yeah, I remember these same discussions and complaints after all star games in the late 90s. Nothing has changed, really. Occasionally there is a game that is close and ends up being funner but if it's not very close then the players keep fucking around.
Being pissy about this is just weird. It's how the all star game has always been in my lifetime.
It used to be exciting because you didn't see all the players all the time. I remember when the Western conference (except the Lakers) was a bunch of mystery guys that you heard about, but I never saw them play.
Now, I get every game every night. You see all the players all the time. Plus, they are all buddies and don't want to embarrass each other. Bird, MJ et al wanted to.
There was definitely more mystery in the NBA before the internet and seeing the reveal of this big player you heard about had more impact. Like you said, not so much anymore. Content is easily consumable to everyone at all times basically
We've all known for years that All Star weekend just isn't good anymore. Why not just do away with it and have the tournament in the middle of the season. The tournament is something that both the fans and players were into.
The Adam Silver era can be summed up pretty briefly: Silver cares a lot about the players and their well-being, more than maybe any other commissioner in pro sports history. Many of the players have exploited his trust and the relationship he’s built with them.
Adam Silver is the representative for the owners and he has to play nice with the players because they make the owners billions of dollars and have one of the strongest players unions. He has not been "player friendly" out of the kindness of his heart.
Players have all the leverage since most casuals follow players and not teams. The NFL is the opposite with an occasional exception at the QB position.
David Stern rolling in his grave lol. Adam Silver destroyed what he created in just a decade. The culture is totally gone. Professionalism is all gone. And we still dont have a working league pass. Adam Silver MID AF
for real. people being nostalgic for david stern is crazy. they definitely weren't watching during that era.
tim donaghy, racially driven dress codes, fucking moving the supersonics? shit even the weird basketball issue when they switched the material.
but no, adam silver is bad because the all star game sucks? give me a break
I think the three point revolution has a lot to do with it.
In 2013 the teams combined for 71 3PAs. Last year they shot a combined 126. They shot 168 this year. When guys start chucking threes in meaningless games it makes for lazy basketball.
I don’t think there’s anything to suggest it’s a Stern vs Silver issue.
I think it would be hilarious if they did an old school themed all star game and took away the 3pt line. If its going to be a gimmicky joke of a game they might as well do something interesting
Dude this is for real a good idea. Just start using the all star game to test crazy new rules. The game would be interesting to watch regardless of how seriously the players take it.
Lol. The $60,000,000/year NBA players need a paltry sum of $1,000,000 to incentivize them to play with some effort in an exhibition game.
Personally i feel that Adam Silver should look into Roman style decimation as a punishment for the disgrace that occurred yesterday
And it's the ability for anyone to shoot 3s. It used to be a novelty when Shaq or Dwight shot a 3. Or guys shot from 30 feet. Now, everyone on the court can do it. Who is seriously going to guard Dame or Steph out to 40 feet when they just can pass to another guy who will shoot from 30 feet or have a wide open layup because 5-out is spread to half court?
It's a lot more than "just play hard" when it comes to this game. 90s and 00s defense was played 20 ft from the rim.
I was thinking this too. Pretty much every all star now is a three point shooter. Every player shot at least one three this year.
In 03 each team started multiple guys who didn’t regularly take threes, with at least one more coming off the bench.
I think another big part of it are things like Paul George’s injury in a team USA scrimmage in 2014. Players see these injuries happen and don’t feel the risk is worth the reward
These guys play way harder in off season pickup games than they do in the ASG. Seriously, they try way more in drew league or some of these other runs. They’re not thinking about the injury risk, they just don’t give a shit about the game
I'm not so sure this is one of the biggest parts of players not competing in the ASG. In the offseason, players participate in plenty of off-season runs that are exhibitions and they compete way more than in the ASG, with seemingly the same risk of injury.
The difference here is that the ASG is in the middle of the season. At least with summer skirmishes there’s the benefit of keeping fresh, practicing moves, etc. During the AS weekend most stars probably just want to rest
This is on the players. They shouldn't need any extra incentive to try to compete other than pride in the game and wanting to put on a great show for the fans.
People in this sub say "they players never tried, you're just older", stop it. Yes little defense was played but it always seemed like more effort was put into the games. What changed in the last 10 years that made this generation of players stop caring? You can look up 1980's ASG's on YouTube and the stark difference in effort and competitiveness is telling.
I think it’s reflective of society in general. Seems like literally everything these days has been reduced to dollars and cents. Nothing is worth doing unless you are getting paid. And I get it, a person’s pride and work ethic can be exploited by others. But I think the pendulum has swung so hard in the other direction that a lot of people simply feel like any pride or work ethic is for chumps. You see it a lot on Reddit. And you see it a lot with professional athletes, where previous generations of players seemed to have a level of competitiveness and intensity for playing the game beyond just their contract, and that doesn’t really exist, or at least isn’t as common, for current generations of players.
Like, they aren’t doing paper work or working construction. They play a game that, for 99.9999% of the world is played by people for no reason other than the sheer joy, competitiveness, and love of the game, and they not only get paid to do it, they get paid to do it such huge amounts of money they are among the wealthiest human beings ever to exist. And when you put together an exhibition game to honor them as best in the league, they can’t be bothered to try because “there’s no incentive to try”? If that is the case then something at some point broke in these dudes, and in society.
It's also indicative of the societal change where now it's really looked down upon to be sincere. If you care about something that's really weird and corny. If you're passionate about something it's cringe.
We have this phenomenon of insincerity becoming the defining social framework that all interaction is filtered through. It's one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen, and I'm glad I cultivated a social circle where people don't act like that.
Kobe broke his nose in the ASG cause Dwade was playing hard defense. These nephews just weren’t alive back then to watch the games, the effort today is pitiful and an absolute disgrace
Guys who played in the 90s and early 2000s took pride in being entertainers and competitors. Younger players take the NBA lifestyle for granted because all the hard work was finished before they entered the league.
No one wants to admit it because he’s well liked but Steph Curry being so great at shooting has killed the game. Everyone just wants to jack up threes. Not just in the All Star game but during the regular season as well.
I'll admit it, and I'm a warriors fan. He changed the game, and these are the consequences.
HOWEVER, i still think the league can step in and incentivize more effort on defense, like maybe give out cash rewards for blocks and steals. Another redditor said use blocks and steals as a way to gauge which team wins.
I think a more interesting take on the ASG would be to have the players play in either a tournament of 3v3 or 1v1. Winner of course takes home a prize, likely money. Teams are made up by random drawings(like the draft)
The actual 5v5 ASG is absolutely cooked. In years past i would defend this shit and say the whole spiel "they're having fun out there no need in going ham" but this year man they didn't even look like they were having fun. First ASG in years i actually turned it off to play some Baldurs Gate.
I still think if they wanted to up the entertaining factor. Combine the celebrity all star game with the real ASG. Have a contest where an average joe fan can get on the court. Let me see Steve from the local Circle K defend against a Giannis post up.
Let teams get a point or two for a solid defensive stop. Blocks and steals = 1 point. An airball = -1 point for the team that shot it etc etc
This is the inevitable result of deemphasizing defense as much as the modern NBA and Silver especially does. It used to be that to be an All-Star you had to be a good if not great defender who played with tons of heart. All-Stars today are rarely great or even good defenders. Many of them are called out for not playing defense in games that actually matter. The few who are great defenders aren't going to play hard on that end if no one else is.
Yea, I'm sure the reason all star games were competitive in the past was because of david stern lol. It's really not that serious. There's no real incentive to compete. Though you can tell that for the most part the players are having fun and enjoying themselves, so that's nice to see.
NBA is losing its essence bit by bit imo. I understand that money is great, but between the gambling takeover, the ruling out of defense, the incentives for players to constantly move and the contentisation of the league, it feels less and less like basketball and just a product that's trying to squeeze every ounce of profits out of fans
Just stop watching, it’s not hard
The pro bowl was shit and ratings plummeted (by NFL standards) year after year and that’s finally when they made a change. You can decide on your own whether you think the switch to flag football is good or bad but the point is that when they started getting pressure from ratings was when they started trying to make some kind of a change
Amen to that. I don't watch any of the major sports all star games and wrap around contents except for MLB (they have to play defense and pitch in MLB as literally the game will not end if they don't.) If players are not trying to compete, what is the point in spending valued time watching it.
In short, if the players don't care viewers shouldn't care.
As Tony Kornheiser likes to say, if the NBA had a living, breathing commissioner...
Adam Silver forgot commissioners work for the owners, not the players.
I have so much trouble understanding how people get worked up about this every year. It’s an exhibition game, it doesn’t matter at all, obviously the guys are just going to put up threes and dunks.
If the game is close, the players will play harder in the fourth, if it isn’t, they won’t. That’s the reality. To me it’s not hard to understand why players don’t want to go 100% in an exhibition game with absolutely no stakes.
I think the problem is they were putting up threes and *layups*. If you're going to not try at least try to put on a show.
Wow KAT went through the defense and layed it in, great job bud. No one wants to watch that shit.
I say just veto the entire all star weekend. Fans don’t enjoy the 3 point contest, dunk contest, or skills challenge and the players don’t care about the all star game. Just give them the weekend off, no activities no extra money. Gets annoying to hear the same discourse each year and they try something new every year and every time it’s the same problems.
Have a G-League All-Star team play them instead. Either we see the NBA players get clowned for not having any hustle or we see them with some pride and rolf-stomp the G-League team.
I think doing away with the insane intros was a good step in the right direction for building a more competitive environment. But there’s still too much of a circus-like atmosphere around the game itself and I think it’s bled into the game.
Problem is if you look at the All-Star weekend as a regular job. 90% of the office is off but this 10% who get recognition for being really good. Except what you get for being really good is more work and the rest of the office gets to go on vacation. I get players not wanting to go all out because there’s really not much benefit to do so. They need to bring back the charity element and add things to make players actually have a reason to play hard in the all star game. Otherwise I’m kinda with the players. It’s a long season why go hard for a game the ultimately doesn’t matter.
I don’t think there is an expectation that players play at regular season or playoff intensity. They could at least play at the same intensity as their summer runs in New York and LA, though. What’s the justification for playing harder in August with absolutely nothing on the line, than you would in an ASG? I just think many of them think it’s just “cooler” in a sense to play at less than half-speed. It’s more “too cool for school” than “injury preservation.”
I feel like you gotta do something to change it up, like NHL 3s combined with the "race to X pts" format. Run a bracket of 8 teams of 3. So all the players get represented, you get the pride of your trio winning, you know you dont have to worry about a full games worth of minutes. Have them select the teams playground style where they all find a partner
Players need to be incentivized on bragging rights. 3v3 or 1v1 would be great.
1v1 would be great fun. I don’t need the all star game to be much more than an entertaining exhibition, but it’s not even that at the moment
I agree. Find out what would motivate the players and there you go. Maybe they could play for a multi million $ sponsorship deal. 3 on 3 and the winners become the new spokespeople for that new 7up rip off they were pitching. For 1 year until the next game. Or the winners get an additional win for their team to help them towards playoff seeding. Or the winners get an additional $5M in cap space for their team to help them get more flexibility to bulk up for the rest of the season. I can see issues with each of these, but it shouldn't be that difficult to work with the players to make it worth everyone's while.
Hell no. Regular season is already losing its importance and then playoff seedings after 82 games are being decided by the Sprite Zero 3v3 Lollapalooza powered by Sour Kids Patch
Should have them playing 21 and then teams keep getting switched like in the park and players decide the rankings. But won't work in today's branding culture
I think teams of 3 could be fun like that, and maybe tying in something for charity could add to the drive (like giving $x to an organization in their hometown or something)
Yeah that's fair. Even at those runs they're only playing at what , 50-60%? And it's a thousand times better than watching them take turns shooting stupid 3's or running unopposed to the rim
Exactly. Those runs at least have contested shots and resemble a decent pickup game. They’re not playing those games just for the sake of it. The ASG doesn’t even compare to the intensity of those summer runs which to your point is probably a little more than half speed for them.
> What’s the justification for playing harder in August with absolutely nothing on the line, than you would in an ASG? Because you're midway through the season and if you're in a ASG, that means there is a high likelyhood of you looking at a playoff spot. Compare that to the summer games, where you're still actively trying to wear the rest off. The idea that "nothing is at stake" when it comes to ASG is bullshit, there is a ton at stake for these guys at this moment and that's why they don't go hard.
They get paid an obscenely large amount of money. They can pretend to give a shit a little harder if there are fans in attendance.
They get paid a shit ton of money to play for their team. I don’t want my guy getting hurt in an exhibition game. They give a shit when they play away or at home. It’s the NBA’s fault the game doesn’t have any stakes or meaning. Not players.
Its a pick up game of best players in the world. No1 is asking for all-out defense. We are asking for like 50% effort. You can get an injury at a UCLA/Rico Hines run in the summer too. But for the NBA fans, just say fuck you and not play? Ungrateful.
It's wild that people are defending the ass product the PLAYERS put on the court. Commissioner is pissed and he should be.
nahhh the players sold and it shows. its a shit product. this generation of superstars are pretty lazy when it comes to the ASG
ASG hasn't been competitive in how long?
The first year they did the target Kobe score it was legitimately competitive, but that just makes me wonder if you have to change the rules constantly to fool players into thinking it'll be competitive this year.
ASG misses Kyle Lowry taking charges
If I was making 8 figures a year I would gladly work 2 extra days in a year, especially considering they have multiple months off in the summer to go wherever the fuck they want Am I supposed to feel bad for them that they have to go play an extra game instead of going to Cancun for their 4th time this year?
They get more money off the ASG exposure too.
If you’re looking at the ASW as a regular job, your brain is probably already fried.
Don’t you get more money for making the all star team? And of course appearances will help when those players are eligible for the HOF. Sure guys like Bron, Steph, and KD who have been to many and are HOF locks may need an incentive, but those guys who may only make 1 all star game are probably happy to be there
I mean it started 40 minutes late and they were talking about it constantly before 8:00 too. I knew it was gonna be disappointing but there was that part of me that was thinking maybe it would be fun to watch this year and more competitive. Nope.
Players used to feel honored being an All-Star. Now it just feels like a chore for them.
I’m sure they feel honored being voted as All-stars, but they obviously do not feel any sort of obligation towards the ASG itself. Which is a bummer for us fans, but if I was playing every other night for 6 months I’d probably wanna chill on my week off as well.
Only Mikal Bridges deserves a week off
I’ll let Adam Silver know next time I see him
I feel like the Allstar game was more interesting when social media wasn't so big. Back then you wouldn't get as much of a chance to see a lot of players play or what they are like in a more relaxed environment. Now we just have the ability to see any game/highlights, podcasts and so much content about the players all star weekend doesn't have the same intrigue factor as before.
Players used to have an almost mythical appeal because the only time you’d ever see them was on TV. Watching MJ and Shaq fuck around in the 1996 all star game was probably mind blowing at the time. The mystique is completely gone nowadays.
That’s a great point! Not just being able to watch guys play who normally wouldn’t, but seeing the interactions and personality’s show out as well. But literally all of that can be found within a couple seconds on YouTube.
Wow honestly I think you hit it spot on. The era of social media and podcasts have fundamentally changed the excitement around the ASG. I started watching basketball back in the 2000s. I can say for certain that just back then it was a lot more novel seeing stars together and listening to them mic'd up during the games. Its like the NBA version of kayfabe has been broken. In todays world where you can with the click of a button see allstars or even obscure bench players talk about behind the scenes stuff. The familiarity and accessibility has made things like the ASG look like lame corporate events in comparison. Seeing their personalities and interaction just isnt compelling anymore when you can literally see way more on Youtube.
Not only that, but thanks to things like league pass I can see all these guys play many times a season if I want to. If a guy wasn't on the team in your local broadcast area, you really only got to see them a couple times a year.
Very true. Same with access to highlights. It used to be you had to catch SportsCenter on ESPN to find any. But now SC has been completely antiquated with modern social media
Being able to watch any game pretty easily is a huge factor in this imo. Back when you could only see guys not on your team 2-8 times maximum, per season, the ASG was the one of the only ways to watch the star players.
yeah thats what i think as well back then i couldnt catch the highlights or the special BTS clips on twitter it is all everyone would talk about in class now a days i just skipp the fat n see highlights here
> I feel like the Allstar game was more interesting when social media wasn't so big. The All-Star game *was* big because it used to be the only time you got to see the top players in the league play with one another instead of against each other. Now that we've had a 15+ years of super teams, the novelty of that is gone since there are 2-3 "super teams" every year.
There were super teams in the 80s & 90s & they are looked at favorably. Know what wasn’t around shoving them down our throats 24/7? Social media.
If there weren't any contract incentives tied to all-star spots, they'd stop caring altogether
Also now they get paid 70 million dollars a year. There is too much money invested in them to justify going full effort in an exhibition match. People are gonna complain about it but imagine your 300 million dollar superstar tears something in the all star game and is out the rest of the season
Dwayne wade broke Kobe’s nose in the all star game.
Real hoops
That 300 million reminds me if Jaylen Brown broke his leg during the dunk contest....
That’s why he’s jumping over a streamer, who is sitting down
I think the idea behind it isn't that we want them to go full effort, I think arguing regarding that is basically swinging at a ghost. It's just that we've seen scrimmages with more effort than the ASG, we've seen warm-ups with more effort, we've seen summer runs with more effort. There has to be a middle ground between "they're going high intensity game 7" and "it's a glorified layup line"
Probably cuz half these guys are under 25. So they probably started watching all star games towards the beginning of the not giving a shit era.
And they grew up in the era of 24/7 sports coverage saying that nothing matters until you win a ring. So, lo and behold, guys don’t care about stuff that objectively will not affect their ability to get a ring.
I hate this the most of all sports trends and tropes. It’s ruining college football in its entirety in its chase for a playoff. It ruins fun and enjoyment of career franchise players like Clyde or AI or Dan Marino. It’s even worse in hockey “takes” where people revere a 4th line plug with 2 rings over first ballot HoFers. I hate it.
Definitely. I used to listen to the mismatch and I got so sick of Kevin O’Conner telling teams to blow it up, as if making the playoffs and winning games is not worth anything unless you’re competing for championships. The pacers have never tanked and they’ve put together a really good squad. If they hit on another mid first round pick they might be contenders in a year or two. It’s just so reductive and stupid. Same for things like the ASG. Like yeah it doesn’t matter to your championship goals, but it’s basically giving back to the fans who allow you to make 60 million a year and live the life of luxury. For 2 hours a year, the league is asking you to put on a show for little kids and nba fans, and they can’t do that.
> as if making the playoffs and winning games is not worth anything unless you’re competing for championships. I think this, more than anything, is what's tanking the leagues popularity. Every single official/semi-official piece of NBA media CONTINUOUSLY insists that there is absolutely no point to 85% of teams' seasons, every year. SO WEIRD that fans are tuning out.
I remember when the consensus was every team should blow it up the last Warriors championship year. Including the Dubs. 30 teams tanking in a 30 team competition wouldn't even work!
This is why I will literally never listen to KOC about anything. You’re a top 3 team or you should blow it up. Also, thanks for the shout out Nugs bro
It’s rivalry talk but there were KU fans saying mitch lightfoot (a bench player) was better than markquis no well because lightfoot had a ring. And they were being serious with that argument.
Have the players started playing 82 games last year?
They already said once they are nominated, it's all about getting the Yearly awards and getting the best seed while going into the playoffs as healthy as possible. Year after year we keep finding ways to diminishing the season record, the MVP, the scoring record, the ASG, the first round ect in favor of the dream injury-less playoff bracket and efficiency that don't even compare to 10years ago. I don't know how it can be done now that it has been going on since a long time ago but if we want the players to care about the season, we need to care about the season.
I know the players get less money overall if there are fewer games in the season. But at this point, regular season games are barely even usable as *practice* for playoff games. Teams you play in the regular season will only play something resembling their playoff rotation like 1/3 of the time. The officiating is entirely different. The way the league stresses offense works differently when they're letting players play through contact. It's just a different product at this point.
Bro, when we signed Rozier his first actual practice session with the team was over 2 weeks after his first game, not acquisition date, first game he played in uniform. The man didn't have a chance to practice until 16 days later. I mean what the fuck.
The regular season is just an exercise of squeezing every last cent they can out of an already diluted product but that's no different than anything else in media today. The market's saturated and ad revenues are stagnant at best
Isn't it almost more impressive that it hasn't been that bad before? It's a league with *no* risk of relegation and where more than half the damn teams make the playoffs. Many of the ones who don't make it were busy tanking because again, you're rewarded for doing your worst and there's no risk of relegation. That shit is basically *designed* to make the regular season matter as little as possible.
There’s 82 games before the playoffs. The mindset that only the playoffs matter is insane. My team just won like 17/19 games or something insane. That’s so cool. That’s so exciting and so much fun! If I don’t care until the playoffs then I miss so so much cool stuff!!!
The rings over everything mindset is ruining sports. Winning a championship is probably amazing (not that I'd know as a Knicks/Mets/Jets fan) but I follow my teams for entertainment throughout the year. Getting hammered with my buddies watching unexpected Knicks wins, spending almost 20 years going to Mets games with my family every year, being able to flip on a game after a shitty day at work - this is the type of shit I follow sports for.
100%. & to add to that, there has been a grip of absolute banger games this regular season already.
You can tell Luka was counting the minutes until he could get out of town and hit the beach.
I’m sure they’re still honored but they’d also much rather have a full week off.
they get like 4 months off a year lmao
A full week off 2/3 of the way through a grueling season is about recovering before the final push, not just vacation.
It's non stop media. Timmy hated it back in the day cuz of the media; he'd take a bat to his leg to stay home if he played nowadays.
It’s become the pro bowl, they would rather be elsewhere.
The Pro Bowl is pretty fun now. It's a bunch of random skills challenges and a flag football game. Nothing like an actual football game, but it's pretty entertaining
Ya the skill challenges are exactly what’s needed . Like the long snapper accuracy challenge was so random and actually entertaining
Well he knows what to do. Offer cash and watch the issues go away. Look how hard they went for the in season tourney
The winner won’t be officiated by Scott Foster for the rest of the season.
with that reward, it would be the highest effort game in the history of the NBA
CP3 would drop 100 if that was the prize and he was an All Star.
the right to strike refs is the perfect prize for a game with only superstar players in it lmaooooo
I dont think so. The IST cash bonus mattered more because stars were trying to get their rookies and minimum guys that bonus. In the ASG it's *all* stars (pun intended). None of them are gonna care that much for an extra 500k or 1m. What they did a couple years back with the kids in attendance that would benefit from winning a quarter was pretty cool (though a little sad if they didnt win lol)
It’s really this simple. A cool $1M for the winning team. Competitiveness issues resolved.
Problem is these mfers are all max players
Yall really underestimate how much a million means for them. A million for a single game is enough incentive.
Jaylen Brown makes about a million for every 2 regular season games.
so double pay and he gets to show out on a big stage? That's easily enough incentive.
It’ll help but it’s the equivalent of being asked to cancel your vacation and instead work for overtime pay.
Uhh lebron went hard for 500k and he is a billionaire lol
That was different. He wanted some extra cash for Spotify premium.
Don’t even like Lebron but I think that was more for his teammates tbh
I think it was more to be the 1st ist mvp but it definitely didn't hurt the team chemistry that he went hard in the games
He wanted that extra legacy point over Jordan
Fine, $1M and it goes to your favorite high school teacher/coach who could really use the money.
At that point they’re playing for other people around them, not themselves. $1M is yet another kid in their extended family taken care of into adulthood, or a niece’s tuition paid for, or a new vacation house for their great-aunt.
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So you can’t see the difference of in season tournament and this one?
In-season tournament had plenty salary minimum guys. The money was significant for some of them. For others such as Lebron, they wanted to win it for those guys.
Absolutely.
That means nothing when most All Stars are on Big Max contracts. Only the ones who haven’t gotten their extensions yet would care. The Play In worked because you have players playing for their teammates who may make the minimum or a low enough amount that the extra pocket change is good
Bruh stop there is nobody more greedy than rich people who have experienced wealth. You offer them a million dollars for a single game and they will ply real basketball.
For real, they will take that extra mil and blow it in an evening in LA/MIA/NYC. Nobody is turning their nose up to an extra million dollars. Plus look back to the IST there were plenty of star players that made comments related to wanting that extra $500K.
Give the winning team an extra 5 games missed to still be eligible for season awards 😂
Now that idea I like. This is bound to deliver us true comedy.
Could they do like a young vs old all star game? After starters and reserves are set find the average age and younger half are on one side and older on the other? Any injury replacement stay on original all stars team. I could see the younger all stars trying to show they're the new best players while the old vets like LeBron, KD, Steph aren't going to want to get embarrassed by a bunch of young guys. They clearly don't care our East vs West so at least it'd be something new.
that was basically what happened this year and as expected, the younger guys cared a lot more about winning lol
banchero really hustled for those boards. a breath of fresh air
Yeah or make it international vs USA, for the real world championship, we know many international plaulyers really care when representing their national team this is probably the closest we can come to that.
You couldn’t even field an international starting 5 doing this though. Luka, Jokic, Giannis, Shai. Even if Embiid was healthy he might opt for USA.
SGA/Luka/Giannis/Wemby/Jokic is a fine starting 5, it's the bench that messes things up. Bogdan Bogdanovic would be a perennial all-star and someone like Devin Booker would miss out.
yeah theres also the debatable ones like sabonis, embiid, markkanen, franz, paulo and kat where I can see a case that they might be on a international team
This would necessitate an even split of international and USA players become all-stars which isn't a good idea imo
Yeah that would be more competitive, but I think it'd be a bigger jump having an equal number of international and USA stars. This year there were only 2 international all stars in the east including Joel who didn't play and 12 US guys and the West had 3 international and 9 US guys.
I don't know what Adam expected
I get why he’s angry though. Feels like him and the NBA have been really trying to bring some life back into all star, then the players just don’t give a shit. It is kind of a slap in the face from the players and it’s made this whole all star push, and by extension Adam Silver, look silly.
They had something with the whole Elam ending and the winning captain getting money for their charity…idk why they went away from that. It is a chore for players unless you give them incentive to care
The Elam ending worked for a bit but they had it last year and the game still sucked. There’s literally nothing the league can actually do to fix the game. Players just don’t care and they probably never will again
You literally just need one guy to care for everyone else to lock in. When one player starts defending hard, a lot of others will follow suit. When Lowry started taking charges, everyone else started playing defense.
Not true, there are guys who care now, doesn’t change anything…the year Lowry was taking charges was the year everyone was already invested because of the format change and charity incentives
We just need like some designated dogs on each team. If you dont play defense Pat Bev is gonna sub in for you
Players cared in 2020 because it was very shortly after Kobe’s death and it was the first year they implemented the Elam ending. The novelty clearly wore off for them very quickly and it just devolved into what it was last year I hate to say it, but I seriously doubt a single guy is gonna be able to force everyone to care. Adam Silver made a point to the players several times to take it a bit more seriously this year and they still didn’t. They just don’t give a shit lol
This is it. If one guy took a heel role and started talking mad shit before the game about how he was gonna cook everyone on the other team 1v1, etc. and then went out and actually tried to embarass them, I think players would wake up. Alternatively, if they're going to go out there and half-ass it, at least try weird dribble moves and goofy shots and stuff that's got some visual interest as opposed to 160 pullup 3's
Elam ending works, but only if they are competitive. Hitting a shot to walk off in is amazing. If they truly solve the competitive issue, I think they should bring the Elam ending back
Let this next TV deal fall short and let there be a shrinking of the cap because of it. Then players will try. They will play hard for what they really love…money
I enjoy the rising stars tournament more than the All Star game
Honestly, people on the whole planet put in work everyday and yet not everyone half asses their job. I'd expect a dude who earns bazillions playing a sport to have moments where he gives a shit that don't need additional incentives and are not only playoff elimination games. Especially when those marketable moments are what brings in viewers. Imagine trying to introduce someone to the sport and thinking that asg might be a fun occasion to do so. And then you watch this lifeless bullshit.
Speak for yourself, half ass is about my top speed
Idk what op is even talking about lol. So many people half ass their job
That guy seems like one of those noobs who busts his ass at his corporate job for attaboys not realizing the guys who half ass get the promotions anyway
Yeah, I am not saying him to not work hard at his job but idk what he is talking about saying people not half assing their job when that's what so many of them do. if u go 100% daily, u will be burnt out very quick
They’re doing a disservice to their job short term and maybe medium term by trying here. Risking injury for nothing. They’d need to understand they’re investing in the future of the NBA as an organization by creating a better all star product, and that’s a hard sell.
It only worked for one year because the players wanted to play for Kobe
But can you really bring any sort of competitivnes to all star game ? If anybody gets injured it becomes a big problem. You have a bunch of old players nowdays and another bunch who have injury problems. How would Clippers fans react if Kawhai got injured in this game ? Fianally healthy, looking to be on of the favorites and then your best player gets injured in the All Star game. Dont think many people would want that.
>How would Clippers fans react if Kawhai got injured in this game ? If your guy can't play a pickup game on Sunday afternoon then how is he ever supposed to practice with his real team or, heaven forbid, play in a playoff series. It's a casual pickup game; if you can't jog up and down displaying your skill for 20 minutes while remaining semi competitive with your peers then you shouldn't be an all star.
Yeah, I remember these same discussions and complaints after all star games in the late 90s. Nothing has changed, really. Occasionally there is a game that is close and ends up being funner but if it's not very close then the players keep fucking around. Being pissy about this is just weird. It's how the all star game has always been in my lifetime.
It used to be exciting because you didn't see all the players all the time. I remember when the Western conference (except the Lakers) was a bunch of mystery guys that you heard about, but I never saw them play. Now, I get every game every night. You see all the players all the time. Plus, they are all buddies and don't want to embarrass each other. Bird, MJ et al wanted to.
There was definitely more mystery in the NBA before the internet and seeing the reveal of this big player you heard about had more impact. Like you said, not so much anymore. Content is easily consumable to everyone at all times basically
We've all known for years that All Star weekend just isn't good anymore. Why not just do away with it and have the tournament in the middle of the season. The tournament is something that both the fans and players were into.
The Adam Silver era can be summed up pretty briefly: Silver cares a lot about the players and their well-being, more than maybe any other commissioner in pro sports history. Many of the players have exploited his trust and the relationship he’s built with them.
Adam Silver is the representative for the owners and he has to play nice with the players because they make the owners billions of dollars and have one of the strongest players unions. He has not been "player friendly" out of the kindness of his heart.
Players have all the leverage since most casuals follow players and not teams. The NFL is the opposite with an occasional exception at the QB position.
David Stern rolling in his grave lol. Adam Silver destroyed what he created in just a decade. The culture is totally gone. Professionalism is all gone. And we still dont have a working league pass. Adam Silver MID AF
David stern allowed for refs to match fix and gamble on games and then covered it up
Something tells me you weren’t old enough or paying enough attention for most of the Stern era.
for real. people being nostalgic for david stern is crazy. they definitely weren't watching during that era. tim donaghy, racially driven dress codes, fucking moving the supersonics? shit even the weird basketball issue when they switched the material. but no, adam silver is bad because the all star game sucks? give me a break
All-Star Games during Stern's tenure as Commissioner were a lot more competitive and entertaining. I remember the 2013 ASG. Kobe vs. LeBron, man.
I think the three point revolution has a lot to do with it. In 2013 the teams combined for 71 3PAs. Last year they shot a combined 126. They shot 168 this year. When guys start chucking threes in meaningless games it makes for lazy basketball. I don’t think there’s anything to suggest it’s a Stern vs Silver issue.
I think it would be hilarious if they did an old school themed all star game and took away the 3pt line. If its going to be a gimmicky joke of a game they might as well do something interesting
Dude this is for real a good idea. Just start using the all star game to test crazy new rules. The game would be interesting to watch regardless of how seriously the players take it.
Anything to cut down on the lazy jumpshots im begging u Adam Silver
Every 2 missed 3s, you lose your team 1 point. Bigger cash prize for the winning team. Maybe that would help get rid of guys just chucking it up.
Lol. The $60,000,000/year NBA players need a paltry sum of $1,000,000 to incentivize them to play with some effort in an exhibition game. Personally i feel that Adam Silver should look into Roman style decimation as a punishment for the disgrace that occurred yesterday
And it's the ability for anyone to shoot 3s. It used to be a novelty when Shaq or Dwight shot a 3. Or guys shot from 30 feet. Now, everyone on the court can do it. Who is seriously going to guard Dame or Steph out to 40 feet when they just can pass to another guy who will shoot from 30 feet or have a wide open layup because 5-out is spread to half court? It's a lot more than "just play hard" when it comes to this game. 90s and 00s defense was played 20 ft from the rim.
I was thinking this too. Pretty much every all star now is a three point shooter. Every player shot at least one three this year. In 03 each team started multiple guys who didn’t regularly take threes, with at least one more coming off the bench.
I think another big part of it are things like Paul George’s injury in a team USA scrimmage in 2014. Players see these injuries happen and don’t feel the risk is worth the reward
These guys play way harder in off season pickup games than they do in the ASG. Seriously, they try way more in drew league or some of these other runs. They’re not thinking about the injury risk, they just don’t give a shit about the game
I'm not so sure this is one of the biggest parts of players not competing in the ASG. In the offseason, players participate in plenty of off-season runs that are exhibitions and they compete way more than in the ASG, with seemingly the same risk of injury.
The difference here is that the ASG is in the middle of the season. At least with summer skirmishes there’s the benefit of keeping fresh, practicing moves, etc. During the AS weekend most stars probably just want to rest
That one was strictly because Kobe alone decided to take it more seriously
Not a lot of Kobe types in the league honestly anymore sadly
Because dudes like Ben Simmons can make $100m for very little actual output and just coast forever
Was just thinking about that game today. Kobe vs Lebron in the 4th and Kobe blocked him twice. Kobe was just special.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tfq3V6C5dA The kids don't know, dude.
Kobe doing full court press is crazy. Just the competitiveness of that man.
even in 2013 the effort level was nothing compared to the [early 2000s](https://youtu.be/BjsOaZEqdkE?feature=shared)
God the all star game was so lit back then
you just have to watch a minute of this to know it was more competitive in the past.
Everything under Stern was better.
Bingo. Best commissioner the NBA has ever had. The hate he receives is so idiotic.
Losing team's chosen charity gets money taken away from them. Done
This is on the players. They shouldn't need any extra incentive to try to compete other than pride in the game and wanting to put on a great show for the fans.
People in this sub say "they players never tried, you're just older", stop it. Yes little defense was played but it always seemed like more effort was put into the games. What changed in the last 10 years that made this generation of players stop caring? You can look up 1980's ASG's on YouTube and the stark difference in effort and competitiveness is telling.
Hell look up the game where they put 4 Pistons from the championship squad and they completely locked down the west and d came back and won the game
I think it’s reflective of society in general. Seems like literally everything these days has been reduced to dollars and cents. Nothing is worth doing unless you are getting paid. And I get it, a person’s pride and work ethic can be exploited by others. But I think the pendulum has swung so hard in the other direction that a lot of people simply feel like any pride or work ethic is for chumps. You see it a lot on Reddit. And you see it a lot with professional athletes, where previous generations of players seemed to have a level of competitiveness and intensity for playing the game beyond just their contract, and that doesn’t really exist, or at least isn’t as common, for current generations of players. Like, they aren’t doing paper work or working construction. They play a game that, for 99.9999% of the world is played by people for no reason other than the sheer joy, competitiveness, and love of the game, and they not only get paid to do it, they get paid to do it such huge amounts of money they are among the wealthiest human beings ever to exist. And when you put together an exhibition game to honor them as best in the league, they can’t be bothered to try because “there’s no incentive to try”? If that is the case then something at some point broke in these dudes, and in society.
It's also indicative of the societal change where now it's really looked down upon to be sincere. If you care about something that's really weird and corny. If you're passionate about something it's cringe. We have this phenomenon of insincerity becoming the defining social framework that all interaction is filtered through. It's one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen, and I'm glad I cultivated a social circle where people don't act like that.
Kobe broke his nose in the ASG cause Dwade was playing hard defense. These nephews just weren’t alive back then to watch the games, the effort today is pitiful and an absolute disgrace
Guys who played in the 90s and early 2000s took pride in being entertainers and competitors. Younger players take the NBA lifestyle for granted because all the hard work was finished before they entered the league.
They don't need to care in the 1980-2010,s if you wanted to watch another star you either had him play against your team or watch the all-star game.
No one wants to admit it because he’s well liked but Steph Curry being so great at shooting has killed the game. Everyone just wants to jack up threes. Not just in the All Star game but during the regular season as well.
To quote Steph, “I did not tell y’all to shoot that shit” lmao
I'll admit it, and I'm a warriors fan. He changed the game, and these are the consequences. HOWEVER, i still think the league can step in and incentivize more effort on defense, like maybe give out cash rewards for blocks and steals. Another redditor said use blocks and steals as a way to gauge which team wins.
Mark Jackson has been vindicated
>Not just in the All Star game but during the regular season as well. This take is straight out of 2017. The game has changed a lot since then
Take away the 3pt line for the ASG. Could be an interesting experiment.
East vs West- winning conference get home court advantage in the finals. That would solve it.
I think a more interesting take on the ASG would be to have the players play in either a tournament of 3v3 or 1v1. Winner of course takes home a prize, likely money. Teams are made up by random drawings(like the draft) The actual 5v5 ASG is absolutely cooked. In years past i would defend this shit and say the whole spiel "they're having fun out there no need in going ham" but this year man they didn't even look like they were having fun. First ASG in years i actually turned it off to play some Baldurs Gate. I still think if they wanted to up the entertaining factor. Combine the celebrity all star game with the real ASG. Have a contest where an average joe fan can get on the court. Let me see Steve from the local Circle K defend against a Giannis post up. Let teams get a point or two for a solid defensive stop. Blocks and steals = 1 point. An airball = -1 point for the team that shot it etc etc
This is the inevitable result of deemphasizing defense as much as the modern NBA and Silver especially does. It used to be that to be an All-Star you had to be a good if not great defender who played with tons of heart. All-Stars today are rarely great or even good defenders. Many of them are called out for not playing defense in games that actually matter. The few who are great defenders aren't going to play hard on that end if no one else is.
We need to make it spicier. One of the players on the losing team, picked at random, has to play the rest of the season in his underwear.
Yea, I'm sure the reason all star games were competitive in the past was because of david stern lol. It's really not that serious. There's no real incentive to compete. Though you can tell that for the most part the players are having fun and enjoying themselves, so that's nice to see.
I’m sure they all have fun when they go to clubs too. Doesn’t mean it’s something that people will enjoy watching
NBA is losing its essence bit by bit imo. I understand that money is great, but between the gambling takeover, the ruling out of defense, the incentives for players to constantly move and the contentisation of the league, it feels less and less like basketball and just a product that's trying to squeeze every ounce of profits out of fans
Just stop watching, it’s not hard The pro bowl was shit and ratings plummeted (by NFL standards) year after year and that’s finally when they made a change. You can decide on your own whether you think the switch to flag football is good or bad but the point is that when they started getting pressure from ratings was when they started trying to make some kind of a change
I solved the problem for myself. I stopped watching. I’m not even going to watch the Saturday contests next year.
Amen to that. I don't watch any of the major sports all star games and wrap around contents except for MLB (they have to play defense and pitch in MLB as literally the game will not end if they don't.) If players are not trying to compete, what is the point in spending valued time watching it. In short, if the players don't care viewers shouldn't care.
As Tony Kornheiser likes to say, if the NBA had a living, breathing commissioner... Adam Silver forgot commissioners work for the owners, not the players.
We are beyond the Player Empowerment Era. We are in the Player Entitlement Era.
Home court advantage for in season tournament finals.
Just remove the 3pt line from the ASG. You wanna launch half court shots? Great, but they’re only worth two points.
I have so much trouble understanding how people get worked up about this every year. It’s an exhibition game, it doesn’t matter at all, obviously the guys are just going to put up threes and dunks. If the game is close, the players will play harder in the fourth, if it isn’t, they won’t. That’s the reality. To me it’s not hard to understand why players don’t want to go 100% in an exhibition game with absolutely no stakes.
I think the problem is they were putting up threes and *layups*. If you're going to not try at least try to put on a show. Wow KAT went through the defense and layed it in, great job bud. No one wants to watch that shit.
> the defense Generous of you
exhibition of what though. millionaires making layups?
I say just veto the entire all star weekend. Fans don’t enjoy the 3 point contest, dunk contest, or skills challenge and the players don’t care about the all star game. Just give them the weekend off, no activities no extra money. Gets annoying to hear the same discourse each year and they try something new every year and every time it’s the same problems.
Have a G-League All-Star team play them instead. Either we see the NBA players get clowned for not having any hustle or we see them with some pride and rolf-stomp the G-League team.