Lebron James is ruling the NBA this year!

[Lyfer]

No football weekend's suck and I wouldn't wish this pain on anyone. Last night's game was pretty fun to watch (Lakers - Heat if you missed it). The man is having a career year and it's scary this may not be his prime yet.

Will anyone be able to dethrone King James? Thoughts?

 

[SunnyD]

Let the irrational hate begin...

 

[Jimzz]

People still watch NBA?

Ratings on the NBA have been down for years. Use to be in the 15-19 in the 90's and now the finals pull in the 9-10 ratings today. Hell in 2007 they could not even get above a 6 in the finals. I think CSI/Law&Order reruns can pull that.

The regular season games are much worse. Theres a reason you don't see as many on TV anymore.

 

[Slew Foot]

People still watch NBA?

Ratings on the NBA have been down for years. Use to be in the 15-19 in the 90's and now the finals pull in the 9-10 ratings today. Hell in 2007 they could not even get above a 6 in the finals. I think CSI/Law&Order reruns can pull that.

The regular season games are much worse. Theres a reason you don't see as many on TV anymore.

still beats the nhl by an order of magnitude. the stanley cup gets outwatched by gilligan island reruns on cable.

 

[zinfamous]

Nobody is better than Oscar Robinson!

 

[Jimzz]

still beats the nhl by an order of magnitude. the stanley cup gets outwatched by gilligan island reruns on cable.

Well thats not saying much. :awe:


The NHL keeps locking out the players all the time, took years and roids for MLB to come back from their lock out and the NHL does it like its not going to hurt them.

 

[TecHNooB]

i only watch jeremy lin's games :awe:

i'm all about asians in mainstream media. love to watch them succeed

back on topic.. yes, lebron is the best by far.

 

[zerocool84]

People still watch NBA?

Ratings on the NBA have been down for years. Use to be in the 15-19 in the 90's and now the finals pull in the 9-10 ratings today. Hell in 2007 they could not even get above a 6 in the finals. I think CSI/Law&Order reruns can pull that.

The regular season games are much worse. Theres a reason you don't see as many on TV anymore.

That year in 07 ratings sucked because the Spurs were in the Finals vs Cavs, two very small market teams. Any time a small market team plays the ratings are low.

 

[Jimzz]

That year in 07 ratings sucked because the Spurs were in the Finals vs Cavs, two very small market teams. Any time a small market team plays the ratings are low.

The ratings have been down for over a decade. Once Johnson/Jordon/Bird/etc... left its been all down hill. Even James can't help.

 

[Anubis]

the NBA is never worth watching

 

[SunnyD]

the NBA is never worth watching

Basketball to me is like golf, baseball, tennis, etc.

Fun to actually participate actively. Horrible to be a spectator - it's more entertaining to take a nap.

 

[Blackjack200]

I'm usually not a basketball fan, but I'll watch Lebron play anytime. The guy is one of the most amazing athletes I have ever seen. The speed and handle of a point guard in a 6'8 270 pound frame. Think about that for a minute. Oh, he's also one of the best defensive players in the league.

 

[diesbudt]

still beats the nhl by an order of magnitude. the stanley cup gets outwatched by gilligan island reruns on cable.

To be fair gilligan isle reruns, you have to watch. Because you just never know if they will get off that island this time, using the same strategy for the 50th+ time.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

With the super-team they assembled you would think they would have a drive to play well during the regular season -

I miss Basketball of 15yrs ago -
Warriors are the most exciting team in the league right now.
What does that tell you?

 

[zerocool84]

With the super-team they assembled you would think they would have a drive to play well during the regular season -

I miss Basketball of 15yrs ago -
Warriors are the most exciting team in the league right now.
What does that tell you?

James is playing great but Wade's best days are behind him and Bosh has career low rebounds per game and nearly career low pts this season. The Warriors are a great team to watch right now. Steph Curry really has come into his own.

 

[diesbudt]

I would be more interesting in Basketball, if the last 2-3min penalty every time the ball goes live portion was removed.

 

[Red Storm]

With the super-team they assembled you would think they would have a drive to play well during the regular season -

I miss Basketball of 15yrs ago -
Warriors are the most exciting team in the league right now.
What does that tell you?

"Super teams" aren't anything new. They exist today, they existed in Jordan's time, they existed in Bird and Magic's time, and they existed before them as well.

Lebron is quite possibly the most physically gifted athlete of all time in any sport. It will be very interesting to see how his game changes when he loses the athleticism.

 

[bigrash]

With the super-team they assembled you would think they would have a drive to play well during the regular season -

I miss Basketball of 15yrs ago -
Warriors are the most exciting team in the league right now.
What does that tell you?

Late 90s basketball was awesome. I watch a few minutes here and there these days.

 

[Anubis]

Basketball to me is like golf, baseball, tennis, etc.

Fun to actually participate actively. Horrible to be a spectator - it's more entertaining to take a nap.

i actually find watching the major golf tournys (final 2 rounds anyway) entertaining.

 

[purbeast0]

on saturday i watched the dream team special that the nba channel aired months back, that i had just never caught.

i miss the old nba so much. it brought back so many memories and reminded me how awesome the nba used to be. back then there was 1 star per team with a wingman. now a days there are just stacked teams and absolutely no parity in the nba because of it.

but the dream team in general, holy shit that team was amazing. there will never be another team put together that was as dominant in a sport as that team was. it was also crazy how much that internationalized basketball and made it more global.

i suggest if you get a chance to watch it to check it out. awesome documentary.

oh and today's nba is entertaining it is just much different. regular season is meaningless as well because 1/2 the league gets into the playoffs, and typically the same 8 teams make it to the second round. that is where the nba starts to get interesting.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

on saturday i watched the dream team special that the nba channel aired months back, that i had just never caught.

i miss the old nba so much. it brought back so many memories and reminded me how awesome the nba used to be. back then there was 1 star per team with a wingman. now a days there are just stacked teams and absolutely no parity in the nba because of it.

but the dream team in general, holy shit that team was amazing. there will never be another team put together that was as dominant in a sport as that team was. it was also crazy how much that internationalized basketball and made it more global.

i suggest if you get a chance to watch it to check it out. awesome documentary.

oh and today's nba is entertaining it is just much different. regular season is meaningless as well because 1/2 the league gets into the playoffs, and typically the same 8 teams make it to the second round. that is where the nba starts to get interesting.

Yeah, it's nice to romanticize the past, but it just doesn't hold up to facts. Between 1980 and 2000, 6 different teams won the NBA championship: Lakers (6), Bulls (6), Celtics (3), Rockets (2) and Spurs (1). Since 2001, 6 teams have also won the Championship: Lakers (4), Spurs (3), Heat (2), Celtics (1) and Mavericks (1). The idea that there is somehow less parity now than in the glory days of the league doesn't really add up. The last time there was any parity in terms of championship winners was the 1970s, and no one romanticizes that era of the NBA like they do the 80s-90s or the 60s (when the Celtics won everything always).

Frankly, I don't think we like parity in our sports (in general). It's so much easier to construct a narrative around the Lakers and Celtics because they have a long history. The Thunder and Heat? That's new to us. And then we have teams like the Grizzlies or the Warriors or the Clippers or the Nets who are historically bad, but now they're legitimate contenders while the old stalwarts falter. It throws off our narrative and our preconceived notions about who the good teams are. It makes it more interesting, sure, but it also requires more effort to keep up with who is actually good, and who has time for that?

 

[purbeast0]

Yeah, it's nice to romanticize the past, but it just doesn't hold up to facts. Between 1980 and 2000, 6 different teams won the NBA championship: Lakers (6), Bulls (6), Celtics (3), Rockets (2) and Spurs (1). Since 2001, 6 teams have also won the Championship: Lakers (4), Spurs (3), Heat (2), Celtics (1) and Mavericks (1). The idea that there is somehow less parity now than in the glory days of the league doesn't really add up. The last time there was any parity in terms of championship winners was the 1970s, and no one romanticizes that era of the NBA like they do the 80s-90s or the 60s (when the Celtics won everything always).

Frankly, I don't think we like parity in our sports (in general). It's so much easier to construct a narrative around the Lakers and Celtics because they have a long history. The Thunder and Heat? That's new to us. And then we have teams like the Grizzlies or the Warriors or the Clippers or the Nets who are historically bad, but now they're legitimate contenders while the old stalwarts falter. It throws off our narrative and our preconceived notions about who the good teams are. It makes it more interesting, sure, but it also requires more effort to keep up with who is actually good, and who has time for that?

yea it may be nostalgia and what not, but back in the day i just don't remember every game being a blowout unless it was 2 good teams playing. now a days there seems to be no middle of the pack. you are either a contender, or you are at the bottom.

back in the day there were so many other teams that were always in it, whether they actually won a championship or not. but the past few years, before the season even started you for the most part knew who the last 8 teams in the playoffs would be.

back in the day, when you played nba jam, you knew who the 2 people on each team would be because it was the team allstar and their wingman. now a days if they made nba jam, you'd have no clue who is going to be on each team because they are all teams full of scrubs or teams stacked to the bench.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, it's nice to romanticize the past, but it just doesn't hold up to facts. Between 1980 and 2000, 6 different teams won the NBA championship: Lakers (6), Bulls (6), Celtics (3), Rockets (2) and Spurs (1). Since 2001, 6 teams have also won the Championship: Lakers (4), Spurs (3), Heat (2), Celtics (1) and Mavericks (1). The idea that there is somehow less parity now than in the glory days of the league doesn't really add up. The last time there was any parity in terms of championship winners was the 1970s, and no one romanticizes that era of the NBA like they do the 80s-90s or the 60s (when the Celtics won everything always).

Frankly, I don't think we like parity in our sports (in general). It's so much easier to construct a narrative around the Lakers and Celtics because they have a long history. The Thunder and Heat? That's new to us. And then we have teams like the Grizzlies or the Warriors or the Clippers or the Nets who are historically bad, but now they're legitimate contenders while the old stalwarts falter. It throws off our narrative and our preconceived notions about who the good teams are. It makes it more interesting, sure, but it also requires more effort to keep up with who is actually good, and who has time for that?

I agree.

People don't like parity, because you can't create a "common enemy." Everyone needs an enemy to drive the support or interest in their team. Sports tend to become less interesting without that one unstoppable team generating the hope that some scrub will show up and knock them down several pegs.

granted, there are always rivalries that tend to fuel the regular season and in many ways, mean more than than the playoffs for teams that will likely never make it. But again, those rivalries become boring when one or both teams become uncompetitive.

 

[JechtShot]

I think mid to late 90s was the best basketball. I only started paying attention to it again about couple years ago. I think Kevin Durant>Lebron James IMO.

 

[edro]

Lebron is quite possibly the most physically gifted athlete of all time in any sport. It will be very interesting to see how his game changes when he loses the athleticism.

Yes it will... but that is still a long time away.
Look at all of the current "old men" and how physical they still are.

Lebron might drop off the face of the earth quickly, like Tiger did.
One major knee injury and never be able to rebound.