Any comments on the NBA All-Star game and related activities?

SanctionII

The game itself was horrible (no one even thought about playing any defense throughout the entire game; and no one did). If was as if the team with the ball was playing 5 on Zero instead of 5 on 5.

My only other thought worth mentioning is that apparently:

"White men CAN Jump"

(as evidenced by the dunk contest being won by a 6' or 6'1" tall white G-League player trying to get a roster spot on an NBA team).

The whole concept of an All Star Game in any sport has, over the past 20+ years, moved away from having the best players in the sport actually "compete" against each other.

All Star Games have expanded in scope to where they now encompass 4-5 days of All Star "Experiences"; and are capped by the All Star Game itself. During the 4-5 days celebration the particular sport mimicks what happens in the Music, Film and Television industries (awards shows where the participants take to a public stage, give each other awards and say "Look At Me; Look At Me; Look At Me" as I/We am/are wonderful).

erikthredd

Someone started a thread on this topic in the Trading Cards section
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1088075/nba-all-star-game-now-just-a-joke-regular-season-too#latest

My comments I posted there about the AS game itself:
This is something that came about during the Lebron James/Carmelo Anthony era and it really sucks as a fan of basketball because these games used to be fun to watch when you had the best NBA talent going all out. Its really the entire NBA All Star weekend that has gone downhill imo. Players used to take pride in participating in the dunk contest and now the league is lucky to get a handful of contestants. Mac McClung,the player that just won the dunk contest isnt even on an NBA roster,he's in the G league.

I spent time one day going thru the previous AS games in the 2000/2010's and you could see that players started to not take it serious with every new year after Jordan retired. You had one of the best AS games ever in 2001 where the East led by Allen Iverson made a huge comeback late in that game for the win then slowly year by year it just got worse. I blame the top stars for this because when you get new players making the team every year and see that the best players aren't going all out then why should they? Celtics guard said it best after the game "That's not basketball, its a glorified layup line." He's right.

then another about players taking maintenance days:
I can understand the maintenance days to a degree. This isn't the mid 80's where everyone played 80 games and the highest paid player made 2M if he was lucky,these days average role players are making up to 20M and the supermax elite players in the 40-50M range. Lose one of those for a significant amount of time and your season is over.

The NBA season really doesn't need to be 82 games then up to another 24 if you're a contender,the league needs to cut that 82 down to about 60-65 but it will never happen. If they ever did that then owners would try to lower the salary payscale and the players would never allow it. When the new TV deal kicks in after the 2024-25 season the salary cap is expected to jump almost 50% more than its at now at around 125M so there's likely to be more maintenance days ahead in the future when so much more money is involved.
Ironically I wouldn't even consider this the NBA's largest issue, that would be what the Nets just went through in recent seasons with Durant,Kyrie,Harden & Simmons. That's an entertaining topic for another day. 🤣

Alfonz24

when is it?

pocketpiececommems

Was there an NBA AS game yesterday. Must have missed it

BLUEJAYWAY

Did not view it. Just saw the recaps. on various outlets.

thisistheshow

As far as I remember...(as always please correct me anywhere I'm wrong)...

When LeBron was in HS he "won" a nationally televised dunk contest that came about solely to market and profit off of LeBron.

As a rookie in the NBA LeBron was not named to the all-star game. He used this as an an excuse/fuel to not participate in the dunk contest (which was being sponsored by Sprite, a company I believe he was with and was also throwing even more money at him to consider participating).

As the years have gone on, LeBron never chose to participate because (imo) he and his team analyzed the risk/reward scenario and decided that, to put it bluntly, he couldn't risk taking that L.

erikthredd

@thisistheshow said:
**he couldn't risk taking that L. **

I believe that is the case also on why never attempted a dunk contest. This report came out over the weekend on numerous sites about the NBA offering Lebron,Kobe & Tracy McGrady 1M each to take part in the dunk contest back in the day.
https://fadeawayworld.net/the-nba-offered-1-million-to-lebron-james-kobe-bryant-tracy-mcgrady-and-vince-carter-to-participate-in-the-slam-dunk-contest
IIRC,Kobe won the dunk as a rookie in 1997 and McGrady went up against Vince Carter when Vince put up some of the best dunks ever in that early 2000's contest.

thisistheshow

LeBron was never going to do it as part of this group.

And you absolutely cannot throw enough money at these players to make them do it. Their earnings, like all top athletes, are egregious and unjustified. They don't need it.

erikthredd

This might have been the greatest dunk contest ever...

SanctionII

Back in the day the dunk contest at the 1976 ABA All Star game was really, really good. The 1976 ABA All Star game dunk contest was the first such contest. The NBA in 1984 decided to hold its first ever All Star game dunk contest.

The players who participated in the contest were;

1. Julius "Dr. J" Erving of the New York Nets;

2. David "Luke Skywalker" Thompson of the Denver Nuggets;

3. George "Iceman" Gervin of the San Antonio Spurs;

4. Larry "Special K" Kenon of the San Antonio Spurs;

5. Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels.

The dunk contest finals were Dr. J v. Luke Skywalker, with Dr. J winning.

I remember watching the 1976 ABA dunk contest. I would enjoy watching those participants compete against all subsequent
contestants in the NBA slam dunk contests.

Steven59

Heard today on Sports Talk radio that the NBA has the best All Star game in major sports - guess whoever was saying this has never seen an MLB All Star game.............

Desert Moon

The AS game was Lillard time. Won the 3 pt. contest, made the winning basket in the game. Lillard time.

Tabe

@Steven59 said:
Heard today on Sports Talk radio that the NBA has the best All Star game in major sports - guess whoever was saying this has never seen an MLB All Star game.............

At least the NBA one doesn't end in ties.

pdoidoi

In baseball they play defense.

thisistheshow

@pdoidoi said:
In baseball they play defense.

This just made me have a thought...

Baseball is unique and special because it is untimed. When they don't play defense in an NBA All-star game, the points pileup but the Gabe length is not affected. What would an MLB All-star game look like if the players decided not to play much defense? Not really an important or deep question. Feel free to not respond, everyone.

erikthredd

Just spent the past hour listening to a Blake Griffin interview with Celtics reporters and the topic of participating in the dunk contest came up and why so many players turn it down. Griffin said just from his experience going to AS weekend, the dunk contest alone will take up most of the player's time between practicing dunks out of view and dealing with the media requirements that go with the DC. He said its definitely not a just show up and do 4 dunks routine. Also if you're in the AS game too, with everything that goes with that,and brought your family with you, you won't have much free time so some players already in the game pass up the dunk contest.

Steven59

@Tabe said:
At least the NBA one doesn't end in ties.

Well I just hope everbody got "Participation Trophies" to stop the crying..........

thisistheshow

@erikthredd said:
Just spent the past hour listening to a Blake Griffin interview with Celtics reporters and the topic of participating in the dunk contest came up and why so many players turn it down. Griffin said just from his experience going to AS weekend, the dunk contest alone will take up most of the player's time between practicing dunks out of view and dealing with the media requirements that go with the DC. He said its definitely not a just show up and do 4 dunks routine. Also if you're in the AS game too, with everything that goes with that,and brought your family with you, you won't have much free time so some players already in the game pass up the dunk contest. made lots of excuses

Fixed it for ya. 🤣

erikthredd

@thisistheshow said:

@erikthredd said:
Just spent the past hour listening to a Blake Griffin interview with Celtics reporters and the topic of participating in the dunk contest came up and why so many players turn it down. Griffin said just from his experience going to AS weekend, the dunk contest alone will take up most of the player's time between practicing dunks out of view and dealing with the media requirements that go with the DC. He said its definitely not a just show up and do 4 dunks routine. Also if you're in the AS game too, with everything that goes with that,and brought your family with you, you won't have much free time so some players already in the game pass up the dunk contest. made lots of excuses

Fixed it for ya. 🤣

That interview had nothing to do with this All star game over this past weekend or any of the fallback thats come out over it since then about playing hard.
This podcast was from weeks ago and they were talking about what the weekened is like from a dunk contestant's viewpoint and also as an AS.

thisistheshow

@erikthredd said:

@thisistheshow said:

@erikthredd said:
Just spent the past hour listening to a Blake Griffin interview with Celtics reporters and the topic of participating in the dunk contest came up and why so many players turn it down. Griffin said just from his experience going to AS weekend, the dunk contest alone will take up most of the player's time between practicing dunks out of view and dealing with the media requirements that go with the DC. He said its definitely not a just show up and do 4 dunks routine. Also if you're in the AS game too, with everything that goes with that,and brought your family with you, you won't have much free time so some players already in the game pass up the dunk contest. made lots of excuses

Fixed it for ya. 🤣

That interview had nothing to do with this All star game over this past weekend or any of the fallback thats come out over it since then about playing hard.
This podcast was from weeks ago and they were talking about what the weekened is like from a dunk contestant's viewpoint and also as an AS.

..
I still think that it's excuses. He's not referring to this year, but it is still excuses in my opinion. Here's why. The truth is that the star players don't need to do it every year, just one time would be enough. There are enough young stars in the NBA that there are plenty of up and corners who are just getting big who could do it. For example, Lebron as a rookie. And most of these guys get so many days off during the regular season now anyway, they shouldn't be clamoring for the All-star weekend to be vacation time.

Maybe I am overreacting when I dismiss his statement as excuses, but these guys are just soft, imo. They are pampered. They want for nothing, and everything is catered. People do everything for them. They also have a wealth and status level where, ironically, they get free pop tarts everywhere.

The reality is that they no longer have to do things like this in order to build a fan base. They are all over tv, and social media is their playground. Seeing them all together is nothing special anymore, and these guys are sometimes friends who go to clubs and strip clubs together. There is no animosity or rivalry.

erikthredd

@thisistheshow said:

@erikthredd said:

@thisistheshow said:

@erikthredd said:
Just spent the past hour listening to a Blake Griffin interview with Celtics reporters and the topic of participating in the dunk contest came up and why so many players turn it down. Griffin said just from his experience going to AS weekend, the dunk contest alone will take up most of the player's time between practicing dunks out of view and dealing with the media requirements that go with the DC. He said its definitely not a just show up and do 4 dunks routine. Also if you're in the AS game too, with everything that goes with that,and brought your family with you, you won't have much free time so some players already in the game pass up the dunk contest. made lots of excuses

Fixed it for ya. 🤣

That interview had nothing to do with this All star game over this past weekend or any of the fallback thats come out over it since then about playing hard.
This podcast was from weeks ago and they were talking about what the weekened is like from a dunk contestant's viewpoint and also as an AS.

..
I still think that it's excuses. He's not referring to this year, but it is still excuses in my opinion. Here's why. The truth is that the star players don't need to do it every year, just one time would be enough. There are enough young stars in the NBA that there are plenty of up and corners who are just getting big who could do it. For example, Lebron as a rookie. And most of these guys get so many days off during the regular season now anyway, they shouldn't be clamoring for the All-star weekend to be vacation time.

Maybe I am overreacting when I dismiss his statement as excuses, but these guys are just soft, imo. They are pampered. They want for nothing, and everything is catered. People do everything for them. They also have a wealth and status level where, ironically, they get free pop tarts everywhere.

The reality is that they no longer have to do things like this in order to build a fan base. They are all over tv, and social media is their playground. Seeing them all together is nothing special anymore, and these guys are sometimes friends who go to clubs and strip clubs together. There is no animosity or rivalry.

you're still not getting it but that's probably my fault for how i've worded it. Just watch the video at some point because the context to what he was talking about really isn't related to this thread even though I posted it here.
Watch it at some point and you'll see what i'm talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDhhao4s5ss

thisistheshow

I guess I went a little off track. Sorry . Lol.> @erikthredd said:

@thisistheshow said:

@erikthredd said:

@thisistheshow said:

@erikthredd said:
Just spent the past hour listening to a Blake Griffin interview with Celtics reporters and the topic of participating in the dunk contest came up and why so many players turn it down. Griffin said just from his experience going to AS weekend, the dunk contest alone will take up most of the player's time between practicing dunks out of view and dealing with the media requirements that go with the DC. He said its definitely not a just show up and do 4 dunks routine. Also if you're in the AS game too, with everything that goes with that,and brought your family with you, you won't have much free time so some players already in the game pass up the dunk contest. made lots of excuses

Fixed it for ya. 🤣

That interview had nothing to do with this All star game over this past weekend or any of the fallback thats come out over it since then about playing hard.
This podcast was from weeks ago and they were talking about what the weekened is like from a dunk contestant's viewpoint and also as an AS.

..
I still think that it's excuses. He's not referring to this year, but it is still excuses in my opinion. Here's why. The truth is that the star players don't need to do it every year, just one time would be enough. There are enough young stars in the NBA that there are plenty of up and corners who are just getting big who could do it. For example, Lebron as a rookie. And most of these guys get so many days off during the regular season now anyway, they shouldn't be clamoring for the All-star weekend to be vacation time.

Maybe I am overreacting when I dismiss his statement as excuses, but these guys are just soft, imo. They are pampered. They want for nothing, and everything is catered. People do everything for them. They also have a wealth and status level where, ironically, they get free pop tarts everywhere.

The reality is that they no longer have to do things like this in order to build a fan base. They are all over tv, and social media is their playground. Seeing them all together is nothing special anymore, and these guys are sometimes friends who go to clubs and strip clubs together. There is no animosity or rivalry.

you're still not getting it but that's probably my fault for how i've worded it. Just watch the video at some point because the context to what he was talking about really isn't related to this thread even though I posted it here.
Watch it at some point and you'll see what i'm talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDhhao4s5ss

pdoidoi

I just read on the TV screen that the NBA All Star game suffers lowest ratings ever.

Alfonz24

@pdoidoi said:
I just read on the TV screen that the NBA All Star game suffers lowest ratings ever.

suffers is the key word