As the NBA tries unsuccessfully to manufacture excitement on Christmas for its slate of games, the real truth is impossible to ignore. The NBA is becoming less compelling to watch because there is no one to hate anymore.
Since the 1980s, when the league began expanding from 23 teams to the present 30, the rivalries between teams have been on the slippery slope to insignificance. The league schedule has become just a gigantic list of games with no grudge matches and very few circled “must-see” nights.
We won’t get another Pacers-Heat tilt, for example, until March.
The big game is now the one night LeBron or Kobe comes to town, not the hated Pistons or Celtics. Division rivalries have gone the way of the Dodo Bird. Its gotten so bad that incoming Commissioner Adam Silver has even floated the idea of eliminating divisions altogether, stating that they may have outlived their usefulness.
The King himself, LeBron James, has gone on record as declaring that there are no rivalries.
Marketing decisions now drive basketball decisions, and this is a reality that I think is terrible for the league in general.
Rivalries in all sports are the drivers of interest. Just look at my beloved Big East Conference. It started as a basketball-only league connecting the major eastern markets. It quickly grew to be the dominant basketball conference, sometimes placing three teams in the Final Four. The rivalries became legendary grudge matches. Then it expanded, lost its way and died.
The marketing people will point to schools making more by smoking the crack of the football money, but it sucks for the basketball people.
At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old bastard, I think that the marketers are missing the boat on the rivalry thing. While we have discussed that players like each other and competitive balance, I think that most of what is killing rivalries is the oppressive hand of the league and its marketers. Here’s why:
Rivalries are born of familiarity. In the NBA’s early years, teams would play each other up to 12 times in the regular season, then could play a seven-game playoff series. In the 1980s, teams played their division rivals six times in the regular season plus playoffs. You really had time to build a good honest hatred for the other team. Today the schedule only allows four meetings at most in the regular season. Who can you hate in four games?
The league should consider reweighting the schedule to increase division play, not eliminate it.
Player movement waters down rivalries. Where is the next Magic vs. Bird? As players change teams more quickly than ever, it is more difficult to allow budding rivalries to mature into full-fledged grudge matches.
The guy you competed against yesterday is your teammate today. Right, Ray Allen?
The owners pushed for shorter contracts in the latest CBA and are starting to see how it has opened the door to less control over player movement. Short contracts allow players to move more frequently to other teams with better salary cap managers.
There is no one to hate anymore. With the league fining players zillions of dollars for every possible infraction, there are few opportunities to build real fire.
Contact has been reduced by a great degree, and the opportunities to have a physical confrontation of any kind have been eliminated. You can’t even knock someone on his ass anymore. Where did all the fun go?
Short of fighting and the obvious flagrant foul, I think the pendulum has swung too far to “hands off.” It seems like we hear about a massive fine every day for some silly infraction. You can’t even be critical of someone who deserves it. Enough already. The networks have a microphone up everyone’s shorts and want full locker room access. Then the league fines you for speaking your mind. Ridiculous!
You can’t even hate the uniforms. While this may sound silly to some, when I watch games now, I don’t recognize some of the teams without actually reading the names on the uniforms. While the new uniforms and logos are a dream for the merchandisers, I must admit that for me, it disrupts the continuity of the franchise identity.
I was always a big believer in maintaining a connection in the history of both the league and the clubs. I find the pace at which team logos are changing and specialty uniforms being deployed to be a disruption. I never considered myself to be one of the old farts on the Muppets, but I am an “old school is cool” guy.
It seems like so many non-basketball issues are constantly being reworked by the marketers and lawyers that they cause more problems than they solve. As with most issues, the schemers are quick to take advantage, which necessitates another intrusion by the system.
Whether it is the draft (too many teams tanking), competitive balance (it is now balanced badly), too little scoring (you now have to defend with your hands behind your back) or some other issue, we have to remember that any rule that you make will benefit someone and hurt someone.
The folks that are a little smarter or more aggressive will take advantage first, then everyone else will catch up eventually. The more you change the rules, the bigger advantage you give the schemers.
As the system intrudes more and more, the game becomes a little less familiar. When you attract a new market, you tend to alienate your old market a little. You also invite unintended consequences.
Goodbye rivalries. You are now an unintended consequence.
(RELATED: CHRIS SHERIDAN DISCUSSES THE DEATH OF RIVALRIES ON THE BBC)
Danny Schayes is a retired 18-year-veteran of the NBA, a professional broadcaster and soon-to-be-published author now penning NBA columns for SheridanHoops. Follow him on Twitter.
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