What Made Basketball Fun Again?
I have to be honest: I never thought I would make it back to writing a blog and am really happy that I am doing it again. I wont bore you with the details (you probably don't care anyways) or explain what this blog will be about, I just hope that if you've stumbled upon this blog; that you enjoy reading it.
To tip things off, I am going to write as many words as I humanly can about the NBA season. Basketball is my favorite sport (both to watch and to play) and its also the most fun sport to follow. An MLB game drags worse than a job you hate, and the NFL is a 4 hour long commercial with football breaks. Those sports are better consumed casually. The NBA? You can go super deep, super casual, and anywhere in between. Watching and NBA game and having twitter is absolute nirvana. Another cool thing is that basketball is in the process of its "moneyball" revolution, where people are paying attention to trends and useful stats that help teams win basketball games. I could diverge here with a bunch of nonsensical: "Who would have thought that shooting more shots that are worth 33% more points would help you win more games?" garbage... actually I will tell a quick story.
When I played Junior basketball, after the team was selected out coach handed us some booklet. It had a schedule, the plays we would run, some inspirational quotes, and then some of his own personal rhetoric. My favorite one was: "A made lay-up is better than a missed three". Even as a dumb-ass ninth grader I could formulate a "NO SHIT COACH" in my head. Every part of me wanted to ask him if a made lay-up was better than a made three? Even better: Is a missed lay-up better than a made three? Needless to say our archaic offence and insistence on playing a 2-3 zone doomed our season. The funny thing is that people used to actually hate three pointers, and actively preached bullshit like "a jump shooting team will never win a championship" I'm so happy that this is a thing of the past. Seriously, try watching a "classic" game from the 90s, I promise you withing 12 seconds you will be regretting your decision. Its 4 guys jamming the paint, while the point guard tries to feed them on the high post or low post. Occasionally a pick and roll is attempted or the ball is given to a guy 19 feet from the basket and he tries to "create". The idea of creation back then was dribbling out the shot clock and throwing up some garbage that would embarrass players in your local awful men's league. Now? Free-flowing offence, multiple guys get a touch (unless you're an OKC player, in which case you get a touch when Russ thinks he can get an assist) good shooting, and skill! (tall guys can now do things like dribble, shoot, and pass) Way more fun to watch.
So here are my personal top five reasons that basketball became fun again
1. The elimination of the hand-check rule
I debated between this and what will be #2 on my list for the #1 reason, but I settled on the elimination of hand checking because its the most logical place to start. It is no coincidence that point-guard stats exploded when this rule was eliminated. Point guards are usually the most skilled (pound for pound) and explosive players on a court. Not being able to impede them suddenly allowed them to get to wherever they wanted. Turns out, when you can go to any spot on the floor and have skill, you will have an insane impact on a game. This rule was abolished in 2004. Since then the following players won MVP: Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Derick Rose, Steph Curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook. In that list: Arguably the best player ever, the second best shooting guard ever, The best European/Top 4 Power Forward of all time and Five Point guards. Yes, FIVE Point guards won the award in the last 14 years. Prior to this period only Allen Iverson, Magic Johnson, and Oscar Robertson had won the award (a time span of 50+ years!) NBA games are more fun when point guards can dominate.
2. The elimination of the abomination that was the illegal defense rule
I won't spend too much time on this one. You used to not be allowed to play help defense and had to be within arm's length of who you were guarding. You could only double if you went to a hard double team.... Yeah. Getting rid of this rule ruined dominant big-men who could no longer pack the paint with no fear of help defense impeding them. It also forced bigs to learn to pass out of sticky situations and occasionally even step out to the perimeter. The irony of all of this is that the NBA ran the only offence that the old defense could guard (iso ball and no spacing).
3 + 4. People are way less racist and technology has brought us closer than ever before
Racism is still a big issue in America, the Colin Kaepernick situation is living proof. However, more and more racist old white guys are dying out and the new generation is learning that things like skin color, sexual preference, and country of origin don't really matter when interacting with a fellow human. This has led to a lot of young people both following the NBA and talking about it on twitter and reddit. Sure, there are a lot of dumbass opinions out there, but on the whole, its way more fun to watch when you can share your thoughts with others.
5. The players are better
This is not in dispute, modern diet, training, travel, etc. Have created a way better generation of athletes. NBA players used to smoke at halftime! Further to this, really tall players can now do everything that a guard can. Dirk, Durant, Lebron, etc. These guys are no longer limited to posting up and setting hard picks.
Next I will write about the best fantasy basketball league ever along with seasonal predictions
To tip things off, I am going to write as many words as I humanly can about the NBA season. Basketball is my favorite sport (both to watch and to play) and its also the most fun sport to follow. An MLB game drags worse than a job you hate, and the NFL is a 4 hour long commercial with football breaks. Those sports are better consumed casually. The NBA? You can go super deep, super casual, and anywhere in between. Watching and NBA game and having twitter is absolute nirvana. Another cool thing is that basketball is in the process of its "moneyball" revolution, where people are paying attention to trends and useful stats that help teams win basketball games. I could diverge here with a bunch of nonsensical: "Who would have thought that shooting more shots that are worth 33% more points would help you win more games?" garbage... actually I will tell a quick story.
When I played Junior basketball, after the team was selected out coach handed us some booklet. It had a schedule, the plays we would run, some inspirational quotes, and then some of his own personal rhetoric. My favorite one was: "A made lay-up is better than a missed three". Even as a dumb-ass ninth grader I could formulate a "NO SHIT COACH" in my head. Every part of me wanted to ask him if a made lay-up was better than a made three? Even better: Is a missed lay-up better than a made three? Needless to say our archaic offence and insistence on playing a 2-3 zone doomed our season. The funny thing is that people used to actually hate three pointers, and actively preached bullshit like "a jump shooting team will never win a championship" I'm so happy that this is a thing of the past. Seriously, try watching a "classic" game from the 90s, I promise you withing 12 seconds you will be regretting your decision. Its 4 guys jamming the paint, while the point guard tries to feed them on the high post or low post. Occasionally a pick and roll is attempted or the ball is given to a guy 19 feet from the basket and he tries to "create". The idea of creation back then was dribbling out the shot clock and throwing up some garbage that would embarrass players in your local awful men's league. Now? Free-flowing offence, multiple guys get a touch (unless you're an OKC player, in which case you get a touch when Russ thinks he can get an assist) good shooting, and skill! (tall guys can now do things like dribble, shoot, and pass) Way more fun to watch.
So here are my personal top five reasons that basketball became fun again
1. The elimination of the hand-check rule
I debated between this and what will be #2 on my list for the #1 reason, but I settled on the elimination of hand checking because its the most logical place to start. It is no coincidence that point-guard stats exploded when this rule was eliminated. Point guards are usually the most skilled (pound for pound) and explosive players on a court. Not being able to impede them suddenly allowed them to get to wherever they wanted. Turns out, when you can go to any spot on the floor and have skill, you will have an insane impact on a game. This rule was abolished in 2004. Since then the following players won MVP: Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Derick Rose, Steph Curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook. In that list: Arguably the best player ever, the second best shooting guard ever, The best European/Top 4 Power Forward of all time and Five Point guards. Yes, FIVE Point guards won the award in the last 14 years. Prior to this period only Allen Iverson, Magic Johnson, and Oscar Robertson had won the award (a time span of 50+ years!) NBA games are more fun when point guards can dominate.
2. The elimination of the abomination that was the illegal defense rule
I won't spend too much time on this one. You used to not be allowed to play help defense and had to be within arm's length of who you were guarding. You could only double if you went to a hard double team.... Yeah. Getting rid of this rule ruined dominant big-men who could no longer pack the paint with no fear of help defense impeding them. It also forced bigs to learn to pass out of sticky situations and occasionally even step out to the perimeter. The irony of all of this is that the NBA ran the only offence that the old defense could guard (iso ball and no spacing).
3 + 4. People are way less racist and technology has brought us closer than ever before
Racism is still a big issue in America, the Colin Kaepernick situation is living proof. However, more and more racist old white guys are dying out and the new generation is learning that things like skin color, sexual preference, and country of origin don't really matter when interacting with a fellow human. This has led to a lot of young people both following the NBA and talking about it on twitter and reddit. Sure, there are a lot of dumbass opinions out there, but on the whole, its way more fun to watch when you can share your thoughts with others.
5. The players are better
This is not in dispute, modern diet, training, travel, etc. Have created a way better generation of athletes. NBA players used to smoke at halftime! Further to this, really tall players can now do everything that a guard can. Dirk, Durant, Lebron, etc. These guys are no longer limited to posting up and setting hard picks.
Next I will write about the best fantasy basketball league ever along with seasonal predictions
Comments
Post a Comment