i was a big Celtics fan in the 70s and 80s. Watched them religiously on TV and went to the Garden when I could, to see Havlicek, Cowens, Jo Jo White, Larry Bird, McHale, Robert Parrish, Bill Walton, all those guys.
Many’s the time I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails awaiting the outcome.
Nowadays, I find the NBA boring as hell, and I’m not sure why. The Celtics are usually pretty competitive, so I don’t think it’s that.
The only thing I can think of is the prevalence of the 3-point shot. Sometimes it just seems like a game of Horse.
Are the personalities less engaging than they were in the days of Bird, Jordan, and Magic?
Why do I feel this way? Anyone else feel this way?
Ive recently watched some NBA games after a many year hiatus. I dont see any posting up, physical defense or set plays like pick n rolls. The players dont seem as “heavy.”
I seem to recall them sending feelers about “how would you like it if the NBA were more like college bball, but during March Madness?” and kept emphasizing “March Madness”.
Again, I havent followed NBA basketball since before Kobe Bryant died (and the early Lebron James years) until about a month ago, so the game may have changed a lot since then, as baseball has. I dont really find it interesting anymore.
I loved watching the Pacers and their magical run last year which took them all the way to Game 7 of the NBA Finals. They made at least one miraculous comeback in each of the four rounds.
These two articles note the drastically increased prevalence of three-point shots (most jump shots are now made beyond the three-point line), a decline in physical play (and the associated decline in the importance of “big men”), the greater influx of foreign players since the 1990s, and (like baseball) a greater use of advanced analytics to guide strategies.
As far as the three-point shot:
Thirty years ago (the 1994-95 season), the average NBA team made 5.5 threes per game, and attempted 15.3.
Last season (2024-25), the average NBA team made 13.5 threes per game, and attempted 37.6.
Interestingly, the success rate on threes (~36%) hasn’t changed, but the raw number of threes has increased by about 250% compared to 30 years ago.
I think it’s wild it took that long to change. Like nobody thought to plot pts/shot vs distance before Steve Kerr?
How does the decline of big men square with Jokic or Giannis or Wemby? I’m not a basketball guy, but those are the names that comes to mind recently along with Curry. Take it the play of big men has changed?
As I understand it, yes. Centers and other “big men” are expected to be more versatile now, to be better at passing and dribbling (and even shooting) than they needed to be in the past, as well as sometimes defending against smaller, more athletic players. They tend to not be quite as tall (guys like Wemby or Embiid being exceptions) and are leaner and more athletic, in part because their role is not to simply occupy the low post.
Yeah, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. I sorta lament the decline of the mid-range shot as analytics have determined it’s about the least efficient scoring option. Particularly the bank shot - I was always a fan of, say, Hornacek’s bank shot.
But otherwise it’s an improvement to me, because I find long-range sniping far more artful than low-post banging. I sorta celebrate the “Curry Revolution” and the demise of the immobile big man camped out by the basket. I also prefer fluid pass-heavy offenses with many assists to monotonous one-on-one isolation plays - it’s just more aesthetically pleasing. I don’t much like really physical play (I also prefer the old more fluid European-style hockey to the NHL version). As I’ve mentioned before I tuned out of the NBA for a number of years - the three-point revolution brought me back. For awhile anyway. I’m sorta slowly losing interest in most spectator sports these days, partially due to a lowered tolerance for the extremes of fandom. I used to like reading on-line game discussions, but I find the super-tribal hyper-fans (which have always been among us of course) more annoying than I used to.
But I know far more older basketball fans that disagree with me than agree, so I’m perfectly willing to acknowledge I’m probably a minority in my demographic .
I used to watch games for the match ups. I wanted to see Jordan and Scottie Pippen overcome the physicality of Isaiah Thomas and the other Detroit Pistons.
I wanted to see Bird and Magic go at it.
The NBA doesn’t have the stars with that name recognition. I don’t see the same intensity when two rivals play.
YMMV The NBA still has many fans. I rarely watch anymore.
I’m even struggling to enjoy college basketball. The transfer portal makes it hard to watch teams with the same core players for multiple seasons.
I knew the top players names on my favorite college teams. It was fun watching them improve each season.
I have no interest in basketball or sports in general. But both of my wives would prefer to watch college basketball because professional basketball was ‘boring.’
Paraphrased: “All they do is run up the court, shoot and score”
Now I note Wifey 1 was 30 years ago and thought this. Wifey 2 actually likes to watch the high school tournaments more so than college.
On this, I’ll beg to differ with you. LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, among others, are extremely well-known star players, among both hardcore NBA fans and general sports fans alike. I don’t even follow the sport much anymore, and I was able to name them off the top of my head.
I suspect that you may not feel that they have players with “name recognition” anymore, simply because…
Which mean that the college players are no longer serfs and get decent pay. There’s probably a better way but they were taken advantage of for way too long.
This is definitely part of it. Rivals in the 80’s HATED each other. Bird and Magic did NOT get along at the time (they have since developed a mutual respect and friendship). Same with Jordan and the entire Pistons lineup. These days, after even the most heated games, you see players from opposing teams shaking hands and hugging each other. That reduced intensity, as well as stars regularly missing games due to “load management” is kind of off-putting to me. If they players don’t care about the competition, why should I?
They are a different kind of big men. The whole reason Wenby is unstoppable is that he can dribble and shoot like a guard while being 7 feet and a half and still growing. Jokic also is basically a point guard in a centers body and Giannis is an athletic freak. The decline of the big men refers to the old style of post up anchor in the middle, the Ewings and Shaqs and even power forwards like Karl Malone.
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