2021 NBA Offseason Thread

[cavsfever]

watching Lebron not able to get what he wants on the court anymore just sorta hurts. It’s an angle game for him now. All old man stuff and strength in the half court. Not hating, just observing. Still get results regardless.

He’s a conductor and Davis is the work horse. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

He did look particularly unathletic around the basket last night. I saw after the game that he was reported to have a minor groin injury of some kind, perhaps that was related. But I agree that his athletic ability has been on a very clear decline for a while, he's just a slower and more earthbound player than he once was. Sometimes he just gets overwhelmed or stuffed inside and you have to shake your head.

But with that said, his mastery of old man angles has kept his stats up to an incredible degree. Last night he scored 28 points to lead all scorers on 50% shooting/40% from 3. Granted 10 of those points came from the foul line, but he still had a better pure shooting night than Butler. For the playoffs overall he is averaging almost 27 PPG on a 60% effective field goal percentage, third highest of his playoff career. That's more points on a higher effective shooting percentage than Jamal Murray. And he doesn't do it like Harden getting it all from the foul line, he take 7.4 FTA per game, a reasonable number for the way he plays and significantly less than the Hardens or Doncics of the world.

 

[Los216]

He did look particularly unathletic around the basket last night. I saw after the game that he was reported to have a minor groin injury of some kind, perhaps that was related. But I agree that his athletic ability has been on a very clear decline for a while, he's just a slower and more earthbound player than he once was. Sometimes he just gets overwhelmed or stuffed inside and you have to shake your head.

But with that said, his mastery of old man angles has kept his stats up to an incredible degree. Last night he scored 28 points to lead all scorers on 50% shooting/40% from 3. Granted 10 of those points came from the foul line, but he still had a better pure shooting night than Butler. For the playoffs overall he is averaging almost 27 PPG on a 60% effective field goal percentage, third highest of his playoff career. That's more points on a higher effective shooting percentage than Jamal Murray. And he doesn't do it like Harden getting it all from the foul line, he take 7.4 FTA per game, a reasonable number for the way he plays and significantly less than the Hardens or Doncics of the world.

 

[Pioneer10]

He did look particularly unathletic around the basket last night. I saw after the game that he was reported to have a minor groin injury of some kind, perhaps that was related. But I agree that his athletic ability has been on a very clear decline for a while, he's just a slower and more earthbound player than he once was. Sometimes he just gets overwhelmed or stuffed inside and you have to shake your head.

But with that said, his mastery of old man angles has kept his stats up to an incredible degree. Last night he scored 28 points to lead all scorers on 50% shooting/40% from 3. Granted 10 of those points came from the foul line, but he still had a better pure shooting night than Butler. For the playoffs overall he is averaging almost 27 PPG on a 60% effective field goal percentage, third highest of his playoff career. That's more points on a higher effective shooting percentage than Jamal Murray. And he doesn't do it like Harden getting it all from the foul line, he take 7.4 FTA per game, a reasonable number for the way he plays and significantly less than the Hardens or Doncics of the world.

I wonder how much of this is he just gets gassed a lot quicker now. He played more minutes last night and I think that's one reason the offense clicked when he was used off ball. It was really ridiculous those Super Saiyon games when he'd go 40+ mpg and still have an extra gear. With his defensive workload on this team and age I don't think he has that super human stamina anymore.

This Lakers team is an outstanding defensive unit though. No defensive weak links and while not great shooters they have a ton of 2 way guys who are still a threat on offense both if left open or attacking the rim. It's the reverse of 5 out on offense with 5 out on defense with decent offense

 

[J_J]

As much as I believe AD deserves finals mvp this series so far, I really want Lebron to win it. We are very lucky to see a player like Lebron in this era and amazes me how he has been to the finals 10 times in his 17 yr career.

 

[kidduck]

It’s a clean, four-game ratings sweep for the NBA Finals.


While Game 4’s ratings for Lakers-Heat showed an uptick from the prior three games, viewership on ABC has now set an historic low as the four least-watched finals games in recorded history.


Game 4 saw the audience rise to 7.54 million viewers, which was ahead of Game’s 3’s 5.94 million viewers. The Game 3 number set a new low since finals ratings were recorded in 1984, according to Sports Media Watch.


Perhaps sparked by the Heat’s upset in Game 3, Game 4 was the most-watched of the series, which the Lakers now lead 3-1. Game 5 is Friday. The first three games each set futility records.


There were a total of 6.6 million viewers for Game 2, which broke the Game 1 record low of 7.4 million. ESPN/ABC did not respond to a request for comment.

Competing against the baseball playoffs and NFL has hurt the NBA, which normally holds its finals in June. The sterility of the Disney World bubble environment with no homecourt advantage could also be a factor.


Lines.com surveyed 1,105 fans with 19 percent voting the 2020 NBA Finals are not valid.


According to sources, commissioner Adam Silver still is surprised at the low audience with LeBron James chasing his fourth title at age 35. Silver is aiming for next year’s NBA Finals to not compete in the crowded sports month of October.


Silver has made general comments that could signal a belief the emphasis on Black Lives Matter has resulted in a ratings fall.


Silver said next season he doubts players will be permitted to wear social-justice messages on their jerseys and the BLM logo isn’t expected to be on the floors of home arenas. The commissioner is wary if these worthy gestures continue next season, “a certain amount of fatigue” would offset the messaging.

 

[cavsfever]

I think the bubble environment with no crowds is a big turn off in terms of building public interest. I think that goes for everyone but especially for the teams' home markets. It is basically playing in a TV studio. Also, the lack of crowds and other paegentry has made the political black lives matter aspect of the everything that much more prominent.

With that said, the quality of play has been incredibly high. If you are an NBA fanatic this is as much fun as ever. It definitely doesn't feel like the players are taking it any less seriously. Sometime around the second round I was able to suspend disbelief and view this as a "normal" high-stakes NBA playoffs.

 

[Cavatt]

It’s a clean, four-game ratings sweep for the NBA Finals.


While Game 4’s ratings for Lakers-Heat showed an uptick from the prior three games, viewership on ABC has now set an historic low as the four least-watched finals games in recorded history.


Game 4 saw the audience rise to 7.54 million viewers, which was ahead of Game’s 3’s 5.94 million viewers. The Game 3 number set a new low since finals ratings were recorded in 1984, according to Sports Media Watch.


Perhaps sparked by the Heat’s upset in Game 3, Game 4 was the most-watched of the series, which the Lakers now lead 3-1. Game 5 is Friday. The first three games each set futility records.


There were a total of 6.6 million viewers for Game 2, which broke the Game 1 record low of 7.4 million. ESPN/ABC did not respond to a request for comment.

Competing against the baseball playoffs and NFL has hurt the NBA, which normally holds its finals in June. The sterility of the Disney World bubble environment with no homecourt advantage could also be a factor.


Lines.com surveyed 1,105 fans with 19 percent voting the 2020 NBA Finals are not valid.


According to sources, commissioner Adam Silver still is surprised at the low audience with LeBron James chasing his fourth title at age 35. Silver is aiming for next year’s NBA Finals to not compete in the crowded sports month of October.


Silver has made general comments that could signal a belief the emphasis on Black Lives Matter has resulted in a ratings fall.


Silver said next season he doubts players will be permitted to wear social-justice messages on their jerseys and the BLM logo isn’t expected to be on the floors of home arenas. The commissioner is wary if these worthy gestures continue next season, “a certain amount of fatigue” would offset the messaging.

So, NHL ratings are down more than NBA. Is it because they have shown a greater commitment to BLM than the NBA?

This is such a silly thing. When have MLB, NFL, NHL, WNBA and NBA all been on at the same time like this. Its' as if people who like basketball like other sports and they aren't completely separate viewers

 

[secund2nun]

A harris poll of 2000 people asked people why they are watching less NBA and the number one response give was that the NBA has become too political (38%) . To make it worse these bad ratings are with cash cow Lebron and LA in the finals. The ratings are bad even on days when there are no other sports games going on.

The NHL ratings are down a lot also, but not as down relative to percentage as the NBA, but the NHL also shut down over Blake and they also promoted BLM along with Nascar and the NFL. Playing politics is a stupid business decision period. UFC took the opposite stance and their viewership has improved actually.

 

[Pioneer10]

A harris poll of 2000 people asked people why they are watching less NBA and the number one response give was that the NBA has become too political (38%) . To make it worse these bad ratings are with cash cow Lebron and LA in the finals. The ratings are bad even on days when there are no other sports games going on.

The NHL ratings are down a lot also, but not as down relative to percentage as the NBA, but the NHL also shut down over Blake and they also promoted BLM along with Nascar and the NFL. Playing politics is a stupid business decision period. UFC took the opposite stance and their viewership has improved actually.

Stanley Cup went down a whopping 60+%
US open final round was down 56%
Kentucky Derby down 43%
NBA fInals down 45%

Politics maybe a portion of this but really hard to parse the numbers to find a significant impact. OTOH a general decline based on pandemic makes the most sense
1) too much sports at one time (people will prioritize NFL which is down the least as it's still the most popular sport in the US. NFL did more with BLM then the freakin US open and Kentucky Derby but they're only down 10%. King of the Hill is the best place to be when flooding hits)
2) Pandemic killing social scenes like bars, post game parties, etc. The social experience drives interest and ratings. This is significant: your friend goes to a playoff game then they get their friends talking about in person or social media, more interest
3) Politics is impacting viewership but not BLM drives down ratings: more like election coverage like the debates and just Trump in general is sucking up so much oxygen. The amount of conversation and TV ratings etc with the bizarro World of Trump (tax returns, getting Covid, RBG death, etc) is huge right now

 

[Man Called X]

Game 5 of the Finals is going to be broadcast on Chinese TV. The blackout is over. Expect a big ratings boost.

 

[Walter White]

I'm trying to find a way to watch the game tonight without a lagging stream. Trying a YoutubeTV trial is my only idea. Any other ideas?

 

[Man Called X]

I'm trying to find a way to watch the game tonight without a lagging stream. Trying a YoutubeTV trial is my only idea. Any other ideas?

Honestly probably your best bet. As far as quality goes, I think YTTV has the best streaming quality out all the ones I tried hands down.

 

[mhi]

As is typical for Lebron close-out games, the role players around him are disintegrating and he's had to pick up the slack. With under two mins to go in the first half, he's got 21.

 

[Kizzle]

As is typical for Lebron close-out games, the role players around him are disintegrating and he's had to pick up the slack. With under two mins to go in the first half, he's got 21.

Morris, Green and Kuzma playing like they know they got 3 more chances Jesus Christ

 

[cavsfever]

I cannot fucking believe the intensity and quality of play in this game. All-time classic Finals duel here and it’s in the goddamn bubble. And in a Game 5, not a game 7!