How to fix the NBA

[FreddyE1977]

Require each player to hold onto a live donkey the whole time the ball is in play.
And use a medicine ball.  (okay...I'm a hockey guy, can you tell?)

[landtuna]

Remove the ghetto mentality from the players and thugish behavior from the game.

[KeithE4]

Remove the ghetto mentality from the players and thugish behavior from the game.

Given who the core audience for the NBA is, fat chance.  And race/color has nothing to do with it.  It's about catering to an affluent, urban audience, which is what the NBA is 100% about.  This type of behavior "plays" in the big cities.

The advertisers want eyeballs in midtown Manhattan, Beverly Hills/Malibu, and the Gold Coast/Lincoln Park/Wrigleyville (and other rich-folk neighborhoods) - where the urban money is.  If thug behavior gets those folks to watch, then the advertisers are happy.  They don't care about Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, or New Orleans - despite the successful teams in those cities and David Stern's man-love for the Spurs in recent years (which seems to be waning as Tim Duncan ages).

[bpatrick]

How can the NBA be in the red? Have you tried to attend a regular season game lately? Here in San Antonio, I gave up when the stupid electorate voted to build a "smaller" arena for the Spurs with taxpayer money. We went from 35000 to 18000 seats. The ticket prices went in the opposite direction. With parking, tickets, food and drinks, it now costs about $200 to $500 for 2 people to attend a game, when I used to pay about $50 for the whole thing at the dome (there was no parking at the dome and the parking meters shut off at 6PM).

The article suggests that it's conditions like you're describing that are keeping people away from the games, particularly in this economy. 

I wonder, too, how much following the NBA has in areas like this one, where college basketball reigns supreme.  Around here, folks can argue all day about the relative merits of the Tar Heels and Blue Devils, but the Charlotte Bobcats?  Forget it, even if Michael Jordan's name comes up at all.

[vchimpanzee]

The Lakers just need to hit more home runs.

[FreddyE1977]

Remove the ghetto mentality from the players and thugish behavior from the game.

Given who the core audience for the NBA is, fat chance.  And race/color has nothing to do with it.  It's about catering to an affluent, urban audience, which is what the NBA is 100% about.  This type of behavior "plays" in the big cities.

I can concur, having lived in the Detroit area when the Pistons won their two championships in '89 and '90.
Watching white guys who lived in $7 million houses in the Grosse Pointes tryinig to adopt the "Bad Boys" persona
was both amusing and somewhat disturbing at the same time.

[dhett]

I thought the NBA was already fixed.

[landtuna]

Watching white guys who lived in $7 million houses in the Grosse Pointes tryinig to adopt the "Bad Boys" persona was both amusing and somewhat disturbing at the same time.

What I was referring to was the players adopting the "gangsta" uniforms common on the streets of eastern urban cities.  Complete with lots of bad boy tats and the inability to speak any recognizable language.

Basketball was not designed to be a contact sport and a big mouth isn't part of the equipment either.

[FreddyE1977]

Watching white guys who lived in $7 million houses in the Grosse Pointes tryinig to adopt the "Bad Boys" persona was both amusing and somewhat disturbing at the same time.

What I was referring to was the players adopting the "gangsta" uniforms common on the streets of eastern urban cities.  Complete with lots of bad boy tats and the inability to speak any recognizable language.

Basketball was not designed to be a contact sport and a big mouth isn't part of the equipment either.

Yes, Dennis Rodman was in the process of becoming the original Tat Man at that time.

[ansky212]

The biggest problem with the NBA is there is way too much stoppage in play.  Practically every trip down the court results in a foul which slows down the game.  Just let the guys play.  Every little bump doesn't need to be called.

Also, there are too many timeouts, especially when you have TV timeouts in addition to the timeouts each team gets per game.  Again, resulting in stoppage of play.  Basketball is fun to watch when it moves at a fast pace.  I don't need to hear a whistle every 20 seconds.

And as others have pointed out, the season drags on way too long.  Why do they need 3-4 off days in between playoff games?