Let's be honest about what the NBA's biggest problem is now. Zion Williamson and Ja Morant failed to step into roles the league was preparing them for

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

It all comes back to the fact the NBA has no safety net. It has no cultural or societal foundation. It's treated as the sidechick instead of the woman everyone goes home to.

It's like soccer in Brazil; cricket in India; baseball in Japan; American football in the U.S.

To all varying degrees those sports symbolize those respective countries, and the quality of the sports leagues in those respective countries are rather inconsequential, because they're still going to be recognized as their favorite pastime. I mean, in a nutshell, that's essentially the backbone of why sports exist in the first place.

 

[FukkaPaidEmail]

It makes complete sense.

It's called patriotism.

NFL is a reflection of this country.

If it ever become an international game where foreign players represented those teams, America would find something else to do on Sundays. Just as if the NFL could have the worst product imaginable, yet it still wouldn't lose those fanbases if they still felt those teams and the game represented who they are.

The Detroit Pistons have never had a foreign player as their “star” .. the patriotism thing has nothing to with why the lions have more of a loyal following than the pistons …within the city of black ass Detroit . .


Also that falls apart when you introduce the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings who have had foreign stars forever and also have a more loyal following .

This is an NBA issue .

If you hate foreigners you wouldn’t be running to get a Miguel Cabrera or Henrik Zetterberg Jersey

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

The Detroit Pistons have never had a foreign player as their “star” .. the patriotism thing has nothing to with why the lions have more of a loyal following than the pistons …within the city of black ass Detroit . .

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what I'm trying to illustrate.

Because the Lions are a branch of the tree that is the NFL (which has been this country's favorite pastime since the 60s/70s), the fanbase hasn't wavered despite the lack of success of the team. The fanbase remains intact throughout the ebbs and flows because the league is intertwined with the U.S. fabric. Whereas the NBA isn't recognized in the same frame, and fanbases are more likely to come in waves, largely based on whether or not the team is successful.

The Lions have a more loyal following as do NFL fanbases over NBA ones, in general. All because the NFL has decades upon decades of having this safety net. The sport, itself, is rather inconsequential. As I've stated, it doesn't matter how good/bad the product of the NFL is, the following will remain the same. The moment it becomes unAmerican, than the following will fracture (we saw this happening during the kneeling of the anthem).

The other part to this is, the NBA is built off the image of players and not actual teams, which compounds this issue even more because once a player either departs or retires from a team, so does the foundation of what made that team relevant.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Also that falls apart when you introduce the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings who have had foreign stars forever and also have a more loyal following .

That's because the Tigers and Red Wings have a much richer history than the Pistons do.

And because neither the MLB nor NHL rose to fame on the basis of marketing itself as a player over team league.

 

[No1]

That's because the Tigers and Red Wings have a much richer history than the Pistons do.

And because neither the MLB nor NHL rose to fame on the basis of marketing itself as a player over team league.

Question - I don’t know the answer - what are hockey ratings like?

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Question - I don’t know the answer - what are hockey ratings like?

 

[FukkaPaidEmail]

That's because the Tigers and Red Wings have a much richer history than the Pistons do.

And because neither the MLB nor NHL rose to fame on the basis of marketing itself as a player over team league.

Since 1960:

Detroit Tigers championships - 2

Detroit Pistons championships -3

Detroit Tigers World Series appearances-4

Detroit Pistons finals appearances -5

Tigers Division titles - 7

Pistons division titles-9


Because baseball actually cares about rivalries and making division titles important it just “feels” like the Tigers have been way more successful than the lions when in actuality they haven’t . There no reason why the Detroit Tigers have a loyal following and the Pistons do not other than the NBA does a terrible job promoting their sport as a team game .


In baseball they marketed the hell out of Griffey,Bonds,Randy Johnson ,Mark McGwire but were still able to make fans actually care about their teams..even when they put out years of miserable trash.

As for your second point I agree with you and the nba is going to need to figure that out because we see the hyping of individuals isn’t working right now .. it’s hard for some ppl to accept Jokic and Luka (we know why).

 

[FukkaPaidEmail]

That's because the Tigers and Red Wings have a much richer history than the Pistons do.

And because neither the MLB nor NHL rose to fame on the basis of marketing itself as a player over team league.

Red Wings are original 6 and had a hot ass decade and was the face of the league for a while they’re a different animal so I’ll give you that one..even though if you just go by recent history they not really head and shoulders above the pistons either

Since 1960:

Detroit Tigers championships - 2

Detroit Pistons championships -3

Detroit Tigers World Series appearances-4

Detroit Pistons finals appearances -5

Tigers Division titles - 7

Pistons division titles-9




Because baseball actually cares about rivalries and making division titles important it just “feels” like the Tigers have been way more successful than the pistons when in actuality they haven’t . There no reason why the Detroit Tigers have a loyal following and the Pistons do not other than the NBA does a terrible job promoting their sport as a team game .


In baseball they marketed the hell out of Griffey,Bonds,Randy Johnson ,Mark McGwire but were still able to make fans actually care about their teams..even when they put out years of miserable trash.

As for your second point I agree with you and the nba is going to need to figure that out because we see the hyping of individuals isn’t working right now .. it’s hard for some ppl to accept Jokic and Luka (we know why).

 

[ScoopNScore]

Ratings would still be the same. Discourse would still be the same. Neither of those guys were gonna be MJ or Bron and carry the league.

For real, throw the thread's take in the same pile of "The NBA is cooked because of..." threads that'd be a weak foundation if just 2 out of 560 players can tank interest like that and this argument speaks more on the fans than the players if them not fitting this mold leads to them turning into a bunch of groupies

 

[No1]

I figured but also the NHL doesn’t have the same huge media rights deals, salary or cultural currency.

 

[No1]

it’s hard for some ppl to accept Jokic and Luka (we know why).

Guys with their playing styles have never been the face of the NBA. Harden was polarizing too.

 

[Ohene]

Zion was the one. I think all the hype Wemby has got has made people forget how much excitement Zion had coming into the league.

Bro squandered it all for porn, wings and pizza

And yet he still got paid

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

For real, throw the thread's take in the same pile of "The NBA is cooked because of..." threads that'd be a weak foundation if just 2 out of 560 players can tank interest like that and this argument speaks more on the fans than the players if them not fitting this mold leads to them turning into a bunch of groupies

Bingo.

At the end of the day, that's all that it is.

NBA fans are miserable.

They're entitled, don't want to let go of the past, don't want to embrace anything new and if things don't go their way, they pick up their ball and head back to the crib.

 

[IsThatBrothaMouzone?]

Nba should start the season around Christmas or early in the year . Then end right before football season. July sucks sportswise cause theres only baseball.

Facts.

No one outside of diehards and people living in one-sport cities (San Antonio, OKC etc), gives a damn about the NBA until either Christmas or MLK Day.

In Dallas, the Mavs AND Stars are playing well but they're an afterthought because the Cowboys still have a 0.5% chance of making the playoffs. If they were 8-6 right now, the attention gap would be even worse.

 

[Dem313wayz]

Pistons got crazy love in the city. They always sold out the arena.

Problem is the Pistons for years after 08 were bad at the same time the economy in Detroit was bad.

Nobody was gonna drive to Auburn Hills and watch the bad product when people getting laid off and have no disposable income.

Lions the only team in Detroit that hasn't won anything. Fans were always feenin for the Lions to just be competitive. It got to the point where fans gave up on them. But now that we are a legit contender fans are going crazy