Like with pretty much every sport, it depends on the market. Chicago is a great market for the NBA and the stadium experience/crowd is great. I always have a good time going to see the Bulls play. That being said, it is an expensive ticket. I usually only make it 2-3 times a season for that reason. But the market is definitely strong and large enough for that not to matter, United Center is almost always sold out. Anyway, some markets are great and others not so much/need work - NBA or MLS.
The size of the court desperately needs to be changed. The size/athleticism of the modern player is too much for the current court size and has been for years.
I'm currently watching a very good game, where both teams have been scrapping since the first tip, are playing good defense, are running actual plays on offense, and are shooting well. It's the Wizards at the Trailblazers and it's very good basketball in a fantastic atmosphere. In other words, BS.
Not sure that's racist, it's borderline, but it sure is ignorant. Extremely ignorant. Actually, I don't think you'd refer to them as tattooed thugs if they were mostly white, with tattoos. No one accuses Becks of being a thug, or Shea, or Beckerman, all with numerous tattoes, so I would say you are being racist, along with being woefully ignorant. In fact, I'd say the NBA is doing just fine without people like you as fans.
Not at all, actually. Rule changes can open up the game more, and they have. The NBA also is heading into a "small ball" era where the big, true centers of old are much less common and we're seeing small, more athletic stretch 4's as well. Changing the size of the court is a joke. It's not like these guys have grown to 12' tall.
Doesn't Chris Andersen have the reputation of being a thug? I don't follow the NBA closely enough to be sure, but that seems to be his rep.
Ah, Jond, ever the fount of Reason. With him, the Border becomes the Center, and Ignorance beomes Woeful Ignorance. It is a gift, as if from the Gods, it is. The NBA is doing just fine, and with Jond doing his BS propos it is in fine hands, and all is Well in the Basketball World. Nevertheless, it is just a mite interesting that business practices which cause the Jonds of this earth to sneer at MLS, as a sporting enterprise, are, nevertheless, cropping up in the NBA like lice on l'il Orphan Annie before Daddy Warbucks came to the rescue. But, then, it is "racist" to point this out, no doubt.
I love basketball, but the NBA has been pretty unwatchable for a while. There's plenty of talent, but there's also plenty of spots for those without talent. A few teams less wouldn't hurt the league. But, the biggest problem (thank goodness for FIFA and the international support of soccer on this one) is the constant tinkering with the rule book that's grown too fat. And, the acceptance that some players get different rules than others. These things kill the game. Being a Nuggets fan doesn't help either.
What? I posted about the NBA and you take it as sneering at MLS? Lol. Edit: Nevermind. You're still upset I stuck up for Landon in another thread and you want to get a cheap shot in here.
I feel badly for Sacramento. Yes, the Kings were a low revenue team -- the fifth lowest revenues in the NBA in the recent Forbes data -- but they were historically well supported and profitable. Of the 14 teams with revenue under $125M, the Kings posted a $6.4M profit last year, making them one of only two teams in that category to do so. Even with the new revenue sharing, the Kings have to be a concern for fans of small market teams. http://www.forbes.com/nba-valuations/list/#p_1_s_a5_
Maybe last year, but your prior quote from Nov. of 2011 listed the Kings as one of the teams losing money, so which is it?
I'm a Kings fan and have had season tickets off an on for years. You're right, they were well supported and profitable for years. Sold out every single game in 19 of 27 seasons since moving to Sac. However, the Maloofs, the owners, have ran the team into the ground, slashed payroll as their other business ventures went belly up(Palms, father's liquor business, Monarchs folded) and alienated all local businesses and sponsors for the most part. However, despite what the national media is currently reporting about a sale to Sea's Hensen group, there's local investors, Larry Ellison, Mastrov(24 hr fitness founder), and then Ron Burkle who are waiting in the wing and negotiating behind the scenes to present a deal at the BOG meeting next month and build a downtown arena in Sac. If that happens, the market will be saved and it'll be a great NBA town again. Stern wants to keep a team in Sea. I wouldn't say the Kings profitability is a concern for small market owners(they actually made money last year, even with all the crap the owners put the fanbase through). The problems are due to our idiot owners who ran every business they ever touched into the ground and are broke. Sac/the NBA basically handed them a great arena deal last year with the NBA fronting them their portion, and they walked away at the last minute. I could go into it more but it's probably not needed. The problems are more due to the Maloofs.
How many MLS players are accused of felony offenses each year? Either as an absolute number or a percentage number, I'm going to bet it's a lower number than the NBA.
Great, you caught the one game out of 82 that breaks the mold. That Wizards squad is really something, they have like 8 wins or something out of 40 games? Anyone get to 100 points? BTW, anyone see some of the point totals in these new-era NBA games? I think someone put up 62 the other day. That was a good half for most NBA teams 25 years ago. Don't tell me it's all good defense, these games are often painful to watch.
You're assuming the BOG will accept the offer to keep the team in Sac. instead of moving them to the bigger TV market of Seattle. Not to mention that with the names in the Seattle group (Hansen, Ballmer, Nordstrom) I'm betting that we'll see the $525M number go up if they feel there's a real threat that Sac. could keep the team. There's always a chance, but the NBA announcement wouldn't have happened and others wouldn't be talking the way they have been today if they weren't pretty sure the Kings would end up in Seattle.
Racist and ignorant, seems like a couple of great qualities for a human being. Hopefully you have something useful to say soon.
I have no idea. How many felonies MLS players have committed has nothing to do with your comment being both ignorant and racist. There's athletes who've committed crimes across all sports. It's not an NBA problem because the league is full of tattooed thugs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_sportspeople_convicted_of_crimes
So Lance Armstrong is also a thug because he doped illegally? I don't consider substance abuse(as far as Chris Anderson is concerned) to equate to being a thug. If it did, then we all know numerous thugs who like to drink a little too much. Substance abuse/addiction is more a disease than a crime.
Well, did anyone get to 100 points? You didn't answer my question. Or you couldn't defend your position so just throw out the racist card. I'm pretty sure the last few years has seen the lowest point totals with a shot clock since the 1950s.
Depends on the year you are looking at. He didn't quote it directly, but I believe he was referring to this from Forbes published in December, 2009: http://www.aolnews.com/2009/12/10/forbes-12-nba-teams-lost-money-last-season/ If you specifically look at the December, 2009 numbers, the Kings lost $2.8M. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/32/basketball-values-09_NBA-Team-Valuations_Revenue.html So he wasn't wrong to put them on his list. The fact is they're a small market team with lower revenues, as are many other NBA teams. They don't have a lot of cushion in terms of profitability, despite generally being well supported. And, in the most recent data, as the link shows, they had just made a nice profit. Still not enough, it seems.
That is such a laughably incomplete list, it shouldn't even be on wikipedia. It's bad by wikipedia standards - I mean, no Vernon Mad Max Maxwell even on the list!! He's got like 3 convictions just himself alone - that's one Rockets player only from 20 years ago! I love the "all people commit crimes argument" - usually thrown out when there is no defense for the actual statistics that show the skewed nature of certain measures (like percent of certain classes that are convicted and are incarcerated compared to other classes).