Attendance is at an all time low. Watch hi-lights of the game and the stands are empty. If they are reporting differently then people who report attendance figures for the NBA once worked for Enron. The desire to watch 20 year old millionaires scrimmage is far less appealing when you have to pay to park and the beer cost $7.
Hard to believe that David Stern is universally recognized as the best commissioner in sports when he has let the league drift back to the image of the 70’s. The NBA of the 70’s was marred with Cocaine scandals, the league today is full of gangsters, posses, and pot heads. There are too few of classy players like Shane Battier, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash.
10 things I would do if I were commissioner of the NBA
1. Contract some teams. There are too many teams and too few players. There is not enough corporate wealth and support to justify having teams in Charlotte, Memphis, Minneapolis, Toronto, New Orleans and Oklahoma City.
2. Expand 3 teams in Europe. Make it a long road trip to play Barcelona, Paris and London. This makes it more of a global game.
3. Enforce the rules. Quit letting players walk, carry the ball and wrestle each other on defense. Currently the game is played by athletes and a few basketball players. I get to watch that at the Y every day. All the NBA has become is a glorified pick-up game.
4. Make the playoffs single elimination. Actually the only time defense is played is in the playoffs but there would be so much more excitement in a one and done game. (in a best of 7 series the NBA has a better chance of controlling the outcome. Wrestling and the NBA have so much in common.
5. Quit drafting children. Oh sure, Kobe and Labron have panned out but the rest have been really bad experiments. At least make the rule like major league baseball, if you don’t go out of high school you have to stay in college three years.
6. Quit paying off potential. No other business entity has a salary plan that pays off potential. Pay for performance.
7. Develop a minor league system. Put these young kids that don’t have an interest in college in the minor leagues. Give them time to develop and prepare for the pros.
8. Adopt the rule like the NFL, when you get cut your contract ends. When you get $10 million guaranteed, the hunger and drive for success is gone.
9. Promote the teams and not the individuals.
10. Get rid of the idiots. (See picture) Image is everything.
