Counterpoint To Shaq & Dante: The NBA Is Actually Fun As Hell And Very Watchable
To help set the stage for this blog, I highly recommend everyone read Dante's blog from this morning. As someone who appreciates long-form blogging and knows Dante puts in the time and effort to produce interesting content, I enjoyed reading it this morning and encourage you to do the same.
Now, the last thing I want to do is tell someone what to like or that they are stupid for having an opinion, that's pointless and frankly makes you come off as a weirdo. People like what they like. As Shaq and Dante explained, many people say the NBA is unwatchable right now for a ton of different reasons, whether it be playstyle, duration of games, foul inconsistency, rule changes, or viewer experience. I hear you, and it's totally fine if that's how you feel.
However, as someone who watches pretty much every dribble in the NBA every single night, I think it's important to show the other side of the coin. That it's not just all 3PA and out-of-context 2-minute viral clips of dogshit teams like the Lakers playing basketball in a game that was a blowout. I never really understood those who share Shaq/Dante's stance using that approach. That'd be like me showing clips of the Patriots' offense and saying that NFL football is doghit. No, the Patriots are dogshit (Sorry Old Balls). There's a difference. You watch Josh Allen and the Bills and you feel like you're watching an entirely different sport. The same is true with good and bad basketball teams.
Sorry, let's get back on track.
This idea floating around talking heads and social media that the NBA is some sort of unwatchable product is another thing I find confusing. I don't give a shit about ratings, nor do I think they accurately reflect how many people are consuming the product. It's 2024, the majority of people nowadays have found a way to illegally stream all sports. That's going to impact the numbers. More people streaming thus lowering ratings numbers doesn't mean a product is unwatchable. It just means people are watching it in different ways that aren't tracked.
To help illustrate this point, allow me to explain what I mean while not even using my beloved NBA Champion Boston Celtics who play the most beautiful version of basketball not seen since the '86 Celts. That's cheating, as no team in the league can replicate how they play so I'll leave them out of it.
All you have to do is look at what took place last night.
Up first, we had a regular season game between the Miami Heat and the Detroit Pistons. One of those games only the real sickos give a shit about, but if you did happen to watch, you witnessed one of the more electric endings of the season
The shotmaking, the execution down the stretch, the high-pressure moments, the hilarious fuck ups, it was all wildly entertaining! This isn't a battle between two of the best teams in the league, in fact, both of these teams kind of stink. The point is as a "product" this was an awesome viewing experience (unless you're a Heat fan I guess). The Heat pulled off an 18-2 run in the 4th to close the gap and force OT, then got off to an 8-0 start in OT and still couldn't close. This game gave us something we've only seen 11 times this century
For the late-night crowd, we had an even better viewing experience in the Nuggets/Kings game.
9 straight possessions with a bucket with the teams combining to go 7-7 from the floor and 3-3 from deep. It had a mix of 2s and 3s. A back-and-forth slugfest with both sides throwing haymaker after haymaker. Elite execution, stars making huge shots, high-pressure moments, this was another game that was both very exciting and very watchable.
Just like with MIA/DET, if you watch those clips and suggest that this is "unwatchable", then it's kind of hard for me to take you seriously. It makes me think that really, the issue is you just don't like basketball, which is fine. But these are moments that happen every single night in the NBA, which is why I never really understand that take from people who are supposedly watching. It seems more like a hot take that people parrot because that's the narrative right now, because if you took the time to actually watch, you'd be seeing very "watchable" games.
This is not to say that there aren't brutal games or that teams don't play disgusting basketball for certain stretches. That happens all the time. Welcome to sports! My point is more about rejecting the idea that the entire league and sport as a whole is an unwatchable product when that very much is not the case.
Listen, as I said at the top of the blog, people like what they like. If you think the NBA is boring and unwatchable, then that's your choice and there's probably nothing that's going to change your opinion.
But I do think it's important to show the other side of the argument. It doesn't just have to be the Celtics, the Thunder, or the Cavs. I would argue there are WAY more moments like you see above on a nightly basis than the viral Lakers clip or the NBA record for missed 3PA (not to mention the record for 3PM was set like 2 days later with GS/DAL, another game that was fun as hell). That also doesn't mean the NBA can't do things to improve their product, as nothing is perfect. Being on either end of the extremes is misguided. The NBA isn't some sort of unwatchable disaster, but it's also not perfect (Celts excluded, they're pretty much perfect). Like most things, the real answer is somewhere in the middle.
As someone who is watching every night, I would argue the league has never been better, both in terms of talent and nightly intrigue. No leads are safe, even the "bad" teams can have wildly entertaining games, we have young and upcoming teams making legit waves, we have teams playing at a historic level, the list goes on and on.