Got a call the other day: \u201cScoop, you goin\u2019 to the Bay for All-Star?\u201d<\/p>\n
Response: \u201cNaw. Not interested.\u201d<\/p>\n
Got stopped on the street earlier this week: \u201cScoop Jackson. Thought you\u2019d be in San Fran for All-Star. Since you\u2019re here, where are you gonna watch the game?\u201d<\/p>\n
Response: \u201cProbably not going to. They\u2019ve turned it all into too much of a circus. It ain\u2019t even about basketball anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a time for many of us when the NBA was the (our) NFL. It could do no wrong regardless of how wrong things got. We held the league down like grandmothers do bad-ass kids when talking to teachers. All NBA, all day, every day. At all cost.<\/p>\n
Those days \u2014 over. As this year\u2019s waste of another NBA All-Star Weekend arrives, it\u2019s another reminder that \u2014 much like with the Democratic Party \u2014 there\u2019s serious work to be done. The numbers are down. But more urgently and purposefully, the numbers are being aligned against something greater to make a greater point. Knowing that one will never match up to the other.<\/p>\n
The Super Bowl, 127.7M viewers. Luka Doncic\u2019s first game as a Laker (the game that was supposed to be the biggest splash of the season coming behind a trade that was so unbelievable and the fallout so massive, it interrupted the Super Bowl spotlight for almost a week), 2.55M viewers.<\/p>\n
The highs and the lows. Something\u2019s gotta give.<\/p>\n
So since it\u2019s become what it\u2019s become and the NBA can no longer rely on this weekend (it doesn\u2019t even put the ASG on a broadcast network) to remind the world of what they\u2019re missing out on when they choose to miss out on the NBA, it is imperative that the games leading up to All-Star Weekend and all games after do for the NBA everything All-Star Weekend no longer can.<\/p>\n
The sad part is that that part, too, is impossible.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Got a text from an old colleague who works for the NBA, not happy about the column I wrote last year about the fall of the All-Star Game and Weekend: \u201cSo I\u2019m figuring we lost you. You are no longer an All-Star Game fan. Sad. Thought you were a real one.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Response: \u201cDon\u2019t hate the writer, hate the game. Why you mad at me? Actin\u2019 like I\u2019m the one who did this to the weekend. You all ruined it yourselves. Plus, my guy, All-Star ain\u2019t even y\u2019alls\u2019 biggest problem.\u201d (Shock emoji followed.)<\/p>\n
Truth, especially when it doesn\u2019t come in the form of love, hurts. Especially when it comes from a loved one. And the truth is the NBA can\u2019t keep having trade-deadline drama, social-media trolls and beefs, tunnel walks and $76 billion rights deals saving it. It needs to stand upright and face its three demons \u2014 the style of play, the officiating, the injuries \u2014 in order to save itself from itself.<\/p>\n
Of those three, the officiating is the least of the game\u2019s worries. After having a lesser-than-subpar showing in last season\u2019s playoffs (and calling that out in a column last year didn\u2019t help, trust me), the referee collective across the league seems to have self-checked itself and elevated to a point where its noticeability in deciding the outcomes of games has almost vanished. Even as the playoffs remain the prevailing factor, the game\u2019s game officials seem to have found a nondisruptive whistle-blowing flow this season.<\/p>\n
As for the other two, the style of play and players\u2019 inability to stay on the court or appear in games regularly are married to each other with what seems like a titanium-clad arrangement that death ain\u2019t even strong enough to do them apart. Every team, every game, every possession hunting the three-point line like Drake hunting lawyers. Killing the game\u2019s creative vibe. Every non-Ja Morant highlight or shot furthering the game into an abyss of predictability and analytics.<\/p>\n
The NBA used to use All-Star Weekend as its reintroduction and savior. Now it has become a chalked outline of itself and Sunday\u2019s game eulogized long ago by the basketball clergy and coroners who are still thinking of something respectful yet honest to etch on its headstone.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Q: Why has All-Star Weekend lost its appeal?<\/p>\n
A: The NBA has become too commercialized, and the game has lost its essence.<\/p>\n
Q: What can be done to revitalize the league?<\/p>\n
A: The NBA needs to focus on its core values, such as skillful play, athleticism, and competition, rather than relying on gimmicks and publicity stunts.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the future of the NBA?<\/p>\n
A: The future of the NBA is uncertain, but it is clear that the league needs to make significant changes to remain relevant and exciting to fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NBA All-Star Weekend: A Celebration Turned Caricature A Bygone Era Got a call the other day: \u201cScoop, you goin\u2019 to the Bay for All-Star?\u201d Response: \u201cNaw. Not interested.\u201d Got stopped on the street earlier this week: \u201cScoop Jackson. Thought you\u2019d be in San Fran for All-Star. Since you\u2019re here, where are you gonna watch the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/cf5ed2c\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5000x2854+0+240\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F46%2F02%2F139403ce400cb6a3243677aca283%2Fnba-all-star-weekend-basketball.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13659,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13657\/revisions\/13659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}