Sportscaster

Since the next Podcast will cover the Patriots perfect season and the NFL playoffs I thought I would take this time to discuss the NBA.

As I mentioned before the season, my expectations have finally reached a respectable level for the NBA.  I have yet to be disappointed.  Last year, there were less than 100 players who averaged double figures in the league.  Already there are 114 this year with another 10-15 that will probably reach that mark before the end of the season.  This means that there will be 25+ more players scoring in double figures this year than last.  Of those scoring in double figures over 60 are at 15+ points a game, last year less than 50 players were averaging 15 or more.  There are 5 more players averaging 20+ points as well, but none more than 30.  By the end of the season there may be up to 15 teams averaging 100+ points a game, last year there were 9.  The point I am trying to make is that the overall quality of play has gone up, probably even more than you think. 

Of the 6 first place teams right now 4 of them have 5+ players on their teams averaging double figures (Det-5, Orl-5, Por-6, Phx-6).  Instead of Kobe scoring 30+ a game and getting no help he is only getting 27 a game and receiving plenty and even Nash has sacrificed a bucket a game for another assist as compared to last year.  The teams everyone is afraid to face aren’t the one-two punch teams like Cleveland (James/Hughes), Houston (T-Mac/Yao), Miami (Shaq/Wade), and to some extent even a team like Dallas (Nowitzki/Howard).  The teams no one wants to face in the playoffs are those which function as a unit, like Golden State, Orlando, Portland, Phoenix and Detroit.  These days it seems you can no longer win with one or two players, sometimes three isn’t even enough.  You have to defend everyone on the floor now.  If you lay off Grant Hill to try and contain Amare Stoudemire he will kill you…if you stay away from Hedo Turkoglu and drift to Dwight Howard you will get burned…Focus too much on Baron Davis and Monta Ellis will roll off 15 straight, you just can’t be lazy. 

What is wonderful about this is that the true basketball fan is finally getting what he craves, quality play and exciting games.  The problem with this is now the casual fans are going to start to taper off a bit, because if there are 7 guys who all have 15 points and no one is dropping 25, 26 or 30 by the end of the 3^rd quarter it means there will be no ONE player to draw attention from a casual viewer.  It is hard for someone flipping channels to care about a Blazers-Warriors game if it’s a 5 point game but no one has more than 22 points with 3 minutes left.  What needs to change is how the NBA markets itself.  It needs to start to look at teams rather than players…get fans to show up to watch the finely tuned machine that is the Phoenix Suns.  Don’t market Nash, market the machine, the team, the flash.  If they can somehow pull it off the League could draw even MORE casual fans.  If they can educate the casual fan and get them to appreciate the game more from a team aspect, the camaraderie, the cohesion, the chemistry…maybe just maybe it will be the beginning of a new era for the NBA…where it is no longer about LeBron or Nash but about the Cavaliers and the Suns.

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