Quality of the NBA

[tedward]

Im only a casual fan at best but does anyone else think the quality of the NBA has gone down in the last 10 years or so?

The overall quality is down, it doesnt have any real superstars and the "dream team" lost - repeatedly and games that counted too.

[Kris Hodgson]

Players today are more concerned with their endorsments, than they are playing to the next level.

[hpk37067]

Ever since Jordan came back, I lost a whole lot of interest.

[MovieWes]

All the old great players are either gone or about to leave (David Robinson and John Stockton retired this year, Scottie Pippin retires next year, Karl Malone is about ready to retire too. As far as I'm concerned, Michael Jordan retired a long time ago), so it's lost a lot of its excitement. There's only a handful of players that are great (Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Alan Iverson, Jason Kidd, etc.), but overall it isn't what it used to be.

[A+]

I think there are still great players that could be called superstars, though just about every team has one (they need one to stay in touch with the "big teams"), but since there's many of them they aren't as recognised as superstars like Jordan was. Kobe is a magical player, and though I ain't seen that much of T-Mac he looks like he's got the potential. The Lakers got complacent this year, I agree that the money and endorsements are distracting some from their games.

In non NBA news, the quality of my team's basketball is still great - we won basketball cuppers!!! Yay!!!

[evilsquishy]

GOD YES!!
Give me March Madness anyday. That's where all the emotion is, where people play because they love it, not because they're getting paid for it.

[Diablo]

i think ever since Jordan won his final ring, it went all downhill from there, but since jordan came back, my interest had been into it, but now since hes leavin again it will be hard to keep my interest in the NBA..

[jorich]

I think it's a combination of things...today's NBA players don't focus so much on the old school fundamentals. The players of today don't shoot free throws well, they can't shoot from the outside, and defense isn't emphasized. Instead, they focus on trying to make highlight slam dunks, 3-pointers, and flashy one-on-one moves (the team concept has all but died).

With that said, today's players are FAR more athletically talented than those of yesteryear...they simply lack the drive and self-discipline to get their asses in the gym and practice the basics. They can do amazing things though, so it still makes for an exciting sport - at times (not always).

Also, basketball has become more and more popular in the rest of the world (thanks in part to popularity of the Dream Team of1992). The rest of the world is catching up in their basketball skills and this makes the US players look even weaker...guys like Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, and Manu Ginobili are good examples of just how good the rest of the world is getting.