Yes, I miss it. Watching and discussing NBA games (mainly on TV, occasionally in the flesh) is one of those things my wife and I enjoy sharing big time, so there’s that (luckily, there are many other things we share as well!).
Also, we live about four hours from Oklahoma City, and we were really looking forward to making a trip down there sometime over this season to catch a Thunder game (young, up-and-coming team; loud, enthusiastic crowd). We will almost surely be living far from here a year from now, so that particular fun activity probably won’t be happening.
I kinda lost interest in the NBA when my main man, John Stockton retired. He gave small white guys hope and inspiration whenever he was out on the floor dominating. Anyway, as satisfying as it is to know the rapist…er, I mean, Kobe… is sitting at home not collecting a paycheque, I just can’t muster up a lot of excitement for the NBA these days.
College basketball is OK but is still difficult to watch because it is almost impossible to determine what the rules are, based on the inconsistency of the officiating. The NBA is just a bad joke. It’s maybe one step above or one step below professional wrestling. The refs might as well be wearing blindfolds and carrying canes. The players are superior athletes but that’s about all. Go for the show, forget about competition.
Miss it? I wish it would just get nuked so that a better game could take it’s place. Raise the basket, make it 4 on 4 and move the free throw line back about 5 feet. Get some consistency in the officiating. Decide what is traveling, what is palming, what is a hand check, etc. Get rid of at least half of the time-outs and restrict them so that they can only be called when the ball is not in play. Plus a lot of other stuff about the game that is just crap.
Currently, it’s a garbage game and needs to be totally revised.