The nuclear winter is over before it began; there will be an NBA season beginning on Christmas Day. Now, you might be expecting me, as a fan of everything encompassed in sport, to be rejoicing loudly over the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and the prospect of an NBA season. This, however, is not my reaction.
As I have previously stated my displeasure with many of the rules and regulations that have been implemented (or have failed to be implemented) in Major League Baseball (MLB), I will so too point to some clear areas where the NBA needs to improve so that it can hold someone’s interest in the regular season. Ready for the rants of a lover of “old-school”?
The first thing that the NBA has to do to keep the regular season intriguing is make it smaller—don’t reduce the number of games, reduce the number of teams. How drastic a change? Eight teams. Not a couple. Eight. Basketball is different from every other major sport in one extremely important regard; smaller teams and the nature of the game allow for star players, or even a single star player, to have a greater impact on a team’s success. The top 10 quarterbacks in career passing yards have won a combined 5 Super Bowls, and one of them, Drew Bledsoe, didn’t play for his team when they won, instead he watched from the bench. Excluding Babe Ruth, the other 9 of the top 10 baseball players in career homeruns have won a combined 6 World Series titles. Wayne Gretzky, unquestionably the best hockey player of all time, did win 4 Stanley Cups, but played for 21 years. And the other top 9 players in terms of goals scored won a combined 17 (including 5 by Mark Messier who won many of his with Gretzky). The average career of the top 10 players in career NHL goals in the , is over 20 years; much longer than the average career length of the top NBA scorers. How many NBA Championships have the top 10 scorers in NBA history won? 28.
The best hitter in MLB has eight teammates that bat in between his plate appearances. The best pitcher can, at best, record half of the outs required to complete a game. The best forwards in hockey are on the ice for about one third of the game. The best football players play either offense or defense, not both. The best basketball players, however, play about 40 minutes, or five sixths of the game—a much higher percentage than stars in other sports.
So how does contraction help the NBA? By having more teams, there is a greater demand for players. By expanding the number of players required to fill NBA rosters, there is a lower threshold of talent necessary to be on a roster. This means that the star players, who already have more impact on games than other sports, are playing against teams that are devoid of comparable talent.
This is obvious at the center position. Sports economists have quite accurately, described the problem as “a short supply of tall people.” (pun intended). The number of people with supreme athletic ability, strength, endurance, and 7 feet of height is incredibly small. By contracting the number of teams it forces star players to play against teams that, even though they may lack a single “star,” have a higher level of talent on their roster. So goodbye Raptors, Bucks, Bobcats, Wizards, Timberwolves, Jazz, Warriors, and Grizzlies—it was fun while it lasted.
What else would help with the problem of star players playing a bloated role in the NBA? A hard salary cap. There is too much wiggle room for teams to find ways around the pathetic soft cap that now determines the level of team payrolls in the NBA. Force teams to adequately supplement the top talent on their rosters with role-players they can afford. Prevent clusters of talent finding their way to one team like we now find in Los Angeles, Miami, New York (soon to be more I am sure), Boston, and to lesser extents Chicago, Orlando, and San Antonio.
On a side note you will notice that I have left the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder off of that list. That is because I believe that Mark Cuban has done an extremely good job at supplementing Dirk Nowitzki with a combination of savvy veterans and energetic youth. The Thunder, have two huge pieces in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook (who is still on his rookie contract), and they have built around them with complementary pieces such as: Thabo Sefolosha, Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, and Nazr Mohammed.
By instituting a hard cap, it forces teams to build…well, teams. The success of well-built teams is falling to gaggles of friends (Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul, LeBron and D-Wade, e.g.) who make deals with each other off of the court, completely undermining the NBA.
Alright, so those two changes are, unfortunately for you, less old school than the ones that I am now going to argue for.
First, no more 10-foot basket, I am envisioning at least 12-feet. The fact that guys can dunk with the same effort that they put into defense (which, if you didn’t understand, is effectively zero), is stupid. Want me to get even crazier?
This change I endorse with less fervor than the others, but make dunks worth 1 point. If people are fans of the game simply because these guys can throw down, go watch the Harlem Globetrotters or a pick-up game at the local YMCA. This is basketball, not a show.
Speaking of basketball, if I remember correctly, it is a team sport. The current 24-second shot clock that is utilized in the NBA does not allow for enough ball movement. They should either go back to a 35-second clock, or do away with it all together. Lets see some passes, not isolations over-and-over again. Teamwork should be important in team sports, but basketball has done all it can to eliminate it from the equation completely.
Now you are probably thinking that I am a points-Grinch and that I want to see winning teams score 60 points. Now that is just not true; I have another change that increases the importance of teamwork, but also increases scoring.
The dimensions of the court should be altered so that it is both longer and wider. By making the court bigger and spreading the players out, defense becomes simultaneously harder and more important. Increased movement away from the ball, because there is more space to maneuver in, allows for more intricate and a higher rate of passes. On both ends of the ball, a bigger court means an increased premium on teamwork.
The size of players, both height and muscular build, have increased over the years, but the hoop-height and court size have not reflected these changes.
Really, all of the changes that I want to see instituted on the court (as opposed to the salary cap in the front office), are ones that increase the importance of the ability to shoot, pass, and play fundamental team defense; you know, basketball skills. A bunch of athletic guys shouldn’t be enough anymore, it is making basketball a lower form of sport relative to the others.
The sport of basketball, as evidenced by the trouble in solidifying a new CBA, is facing some amount of trouble. The watered down play that is now a mere spectacle is the underlying problem. Lets face it, people don’t care about basketball as much as they used to, or even could. Demand the changes of these so called “basketball players.” Weed out the frauds.
thebullpenblogger 