IMO the NBA ASG has hit rock bottom

[DuckIII]

BTW, the funniest thing people do on NBA Twitter every year is acting like this isn't how it's been for a looooong time now. Every year I have to watch the same accounts cry for a day and read insane "solutions" like playing for homecourt advantage in the Finals.

Exactly. If you actually took the time to watch all or portions of allstar weekend and you thought it sucked, was it your first time tuning in over the last 25 or so years?

I wrote this in the Around the NBA Thread:

Almost never do. I’ve probably watched 2 hours of all star weekend in the last 20 years. 99% of it sucks except you’ll get a decent slam dunk comp once every 6-7 years. And when that rare event happens you can just YouTube it and be done in 5 minutes without all the down time.

Allstar weekend is great for kids and to mass market the NBA on a superficial level. So it’s very important from a business perspective. But if you are looking for basketball you won’t find it there.

[DuckIII]

I also don't care about the probowl or the MLB All-Star game

The MLB All-Star game is the only one that's competitive and that's only because pictures have to throw their normal pitches. Kind of the beauty of it.

MLB All-Star game is also the only one where the athletes can perform close to their maximum level without risk of injury. Unless the winning team in basketball or football is offered some absurd amount of $$$ ($1 million per player -- is that even enough?), I don't see how you can expect any kind of effort.

The only way would be what doug mentioned - compensating the players massively. Which won't happen, so the lack of effort is inherent and totally understandable.

The solution I have found is unequivocally flawless: Its bad. Just don't watch it. You are the god of your remote.

[Ben]

The game might have been bad-- I didn't watch, only rolled my eyes at the final score-- but this thread has generated some pretty great comments. I would watch the game if there were a robust game thread here with people pointing out all the flaws. Like Mystery Science Theater 3000.

[Axl Rose]

The night before wasn't much better either and i almost got nauseous at that LED floor (and that was while half watching). I did quite enjoy the shootout between Sabrina and Steph, but that was the only thing that captured my interest.

I tuned into the ASG but quickly lost interest and when i checked back the east was way up so i turned it off.

[kodo]

Silver has to be loving this publicity.

CBS: NBA's All-Star Game has become unwatchable, and it also might be unfixable

Indianapolis Star: The NBA All-Star Game died Sunday night in Indy. Cause of death: Players don't care.

mlive: Longtime NBA observers rip uncompetitive, 397-point All-Star Game: ‘What a waste of time’

The Guardian: “I think the best [moment], we were talking about it, was the Bulls and the Pacers [entertainment team of] dunkers,” [Anthony] Davis said. “With the trampoline? They were very, very impressive.”

[MrSparkle]

I stopped watching around 15y ago. I did watch the 3min highlight-reel. Honestly, the game has been corny as long as I can remember. The Banana Boat days were around the time I couldn't sit through the game anymore. I think the mid/late 90s with the old guard MJ/Hakeem/Barkley/Reggie/Malone, prime Shaq/Kemp/Kidd, young Kobe/Duncan/KG/AI/Baron ... was about as good as it got. Lot of energy and competitive fire. This cross of generations, Lebron isn't into schooling the youngins, he's more into recruiting them.

And again.. I don't know why, but today's game is more injury prone than it used to be. Could be all related to the 3P line stretching out defenses and making it more enticing to drive into seemingly open lanes and then collapsing defenses, or the more athletic/built players, but seemed like around the time hand-checking went away (04/05), the NBA transformed more than anything. Bodying up a player slows down the game, increases passing and post ups.

But I could see why these guys (esp. older/inj.prone) don't want to play a lick of defense or risk a difficult drive.

Anyway, your league ambassadors set the tone for the game. Lebron obviously bowed out judging by his stats, and Haliburton/Shai/Giannis did their thing, but Luka/Edwards did not. Luka's low-lights were really bad, and his stats sucked. I think the Euro guys don't have the personalities to really set the tone; they play with the flow. We're in that weird transition era, where Lebron/Curry/Durant "throne" is up for grabs, but nobody really wants it. These events always revolved around the top-3 guys, and if Luka/Jokic have the personalities to not compete in the game, then it is what it is; a non-competitive game.

Honestly, they might want to do GLeague vs NBA all stars. Those GLeaguers will hustle like hell to upstage the prima donnas.

[DropStep]

I feel like juicing their competition jones is the key. It's a real thing and it's involuntary for most of these guys if somebody challenges them - look how amped up Ja got playing pickup in his driveway playing for free. The in-season tournament got massive amounts of competition with some prize money, but it didn't cost billions. Seems like there's gotta be a way. Also I think these guys are really tired and they need the midseason break. If there were some way to give them an extra couple days off so they aren't choosing between getting some rest and giving a good exhibition, it might make them at least a little less reluctant to play right.

[madvillian]

I'd make it international against USA, seems like the way the league is going you could have that. Let the fans vote on the starters in USA and international teams and then the coaches / league fills in the rest.

The dunk contest? Man I dunno. I think doing it on an 11 foot rim one year might be a bit intriguing, or maybe like a game of PIG but dunks only. There's only so many dunks you can do and with the professional dunk tours and **** now it's just lost its novelty.

The only thing that shouldn't change is the 3 point shootout. Keep inviting the best women's shooter(s) every year. That was cool.

[ThisGuyFawkes]

The game might have been bad-- I didn't watch, only rolled my eyes at the final score-- but this thread has generated some pretty great comments. I would watch the game if there were a robust game thread here with people pointing out all the flaws. Like Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Crow: "It looks like someone is stepping up finally to play some defense."
Mike: "Oh nevermind, he just moved out of the way."

[DropStep]

Finding some way to get younger players trying to make a name for themselves out there on the defensive side might help the competition level, or maybe some all-defense players. I lol'd trying to imagine having like 5 all-defense guys that the coach could sub in for defensive possessions on any dead ball, and then sub out when his team has the ball, with like hockey line changes, but that might be a bit much. I'd watch a trial game just for fun though, if I was Silver. I'm sure the big stars would be more than happy to save their legs on D.

It would also be interesting to see Luka Jokic Giannis etc. play with no practice against a real team with some cohesion, but I'm not sure who would want to be the Washington Generals. Maybe the league could Hard Knocks it and just nominate a young team that would actually run some plays? CSKA Moscow? Anything like that would have to be called really tightly - maybe everyone only gets 2 or 3 fouls and a flagrant is a ten game suspension or something. Although, it didn't seem to be a huge problem in the in-season tournment.

Meh.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

Scrap the ASG and replace it with a 3 on 3 tournament. Randomly selected teams with one guard, one forward, and one center. Give the winning team $1M each.

[DuckIII]

Silver has to be loving this publicity.

CBS: NBA's All-Star Game has become unwatchable, and it also might be unfixable

Indianapolis Star: The NBA All-Star Game died Sunday night in Indy. Cause of death: Players don't care.

mlive: Longtime NBA observers rip uncompetitive, 397-point All-Star Game: ‘What a waste of time’

The Guardian: “I think the best [moment], we were talking about it, was the Bulls and the Pacers [entertainment team of] dunkers,” [Anthony] Davis said. “With the trampoline? They were very, very impressive.”

It may be especially negative this year, but the media rightly crucifies Allstar weekend pretty much every year. Because it’s bad pretty much every year.

[ThisGuyFawkes]

I didn't realize they went back to the East/West format. Upon hearing this, it immediately reminded me of the opening scene from BASEketball.

"The Oakland Raiders moved to L.A. and then back to Oakland. No one in Los Angeles seemed to notice."

[dougthonus]

I didn't realize they went back to the East/West format. Upon hearing this, it immediately reminded me of the opening scene from BASEketball.

"The Oakland Raiders moved to L.A. and then back to Oakland. No one in Los Angeles seemed to notice."

That movie was pretty mediocre, but that opening sequence was hilarious.

"Soon it was commonplace for entire teams to change cities in search of greater profits. The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles where there are no lakes. The Oilers moved to Tennessee where there is no oil. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City where they don't allow music."

[FriedRise]

I thought they were heading in the right direction a couple years ago when they introduced those quarter by quarter rules with a charity at stake. The score was still high, but towards the end of the game, guys were actually playing defense trying to prevent the other team from scoring (IIRC LeBron hit a turnaround J over Zach or maybe DeMar to win it).

Looks like they decided to not do that this year, which of course reverted the game back to a glorified televised shootaround.

[HomoSapien]

Scrap the ASG and replace it with a 3 on 3 tournament. Randomly selected teams with one guard, one forward, and one center. Give the winning team $1M each.

Funny enough, I was thinking about the same thing but was wondering if it'd be more interesting have each franchise participate in a 3 on 3 tourney (plus one sub?). Winner gets home-court advantage in the 1st round of the playoffs, assuming they get in?

Honestly, the only way to make these games interesting is to assign real stakes. I also think having every team represented gives more fans an incentive to watch. I'm always a little less interested when no Bulls are participating.

[GoBlue72391]

I just rewatched the 2003 all-star game and maybe it was because it was Jordan's send-off, but it was an actual game with effort and defense. I would love to see that in modern all-star games. 2020 was great with the target score, but I don't think it's repeatable because that was right when Kobe died and the players were playing hard for him.

[GoBlue72391]

I loved it. I turned on the altcast and just stared at Taylor Rooks all night. Really had no idea a game was even going on.

Creepy.

[Bulliever2020]

I loved it. I turned on the altcast and just stared at Taylor Rooks all night. Really had no idea a game was even going on.

Creepy.

lol talk about not being able to take a joke. Taylor Rooks is gorgeous. Along with Draymond and Chuck it was extremely entertaining.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

Scrap the ASG and replace it with a 3 on 3 tournament. Randomly selected teams with one guard, one forward, and one center. Give the winning team $1M each.

Funny enough, I was thinking about the same thing but was wondering if it'd be more interesting have each franchise participate in a 3 on 3 tourney (plus one sub?). Winner gets home-court advantage in the 1st round of the playoffs, assuming they get in?

Honestly, the only way to make these games interesting is to assign real stakes. I also think having every team represented gives more fans an incentive to watch. I'm always a little less interested when no Bulls are participating.

The thing about expanding it to all teams is that it’s no longer an event for All Stars. The game definitely needs stakes though. “Too cool to care” has destroyed AS weekend. If Anthony Edwards bricking left-handed threes in the skills challenge doesn’t wake Silver tf up, I don’t know what will.