Is basketball more or less entertaining than it was 15 years ago?

[Goldstar88]

Less entertaining. Not so much due to the way the game is played, I just don’t think many of the star players are likable.

[droopdog7]

I wouldn’t mind something in the middle of this

That's why the 1980s were the best.  Lots of pace, but also lots of physical play.

And the 90's were mostly the worst.  Remember watching games where barkley would just back a guy down for 10 seconds.  Very little ball movement. 

[SHAQATTACK]

I like it now better than 10 years ago , with no rules for stars …Harden and Bron getting away with every trick in the book , never getting calls .  Refs still get stuff wrong a lot .

Rules should be equal across the player talent .  It’s hard to watch seeing refs giving stars so much love all the time . 

Let em play refs

[liam]

I like it now better than 10 years ago , with no rules for stars …Harden and Bron getting away with every trick in the book , never getting calls .  Refs still get stuff wrong a lot .

Rules should be equal across the player talent .  It’s hard to watch seeing refs giving stars so much love all the time . 

Let em play refs

I agree but Tatum never gets any love from the refs.

[bdm860]

Less entertaining. Not so much due to the way the game is played, I just don’t think many of the star players are likable.

Does the 88 in your name refer to your birth year?

Cuz for me there was definitely a few weird transitions I felt from getting older.

1) realizing I was older than the majority of players I was rooting for (even if not that much older).
2) realizing all the players who had always been there ever since I became aware of the game had retired.
3) realizing I had witnessed all-time great careers from start to finish.

I don't think anything compares to the likability of stars from my adolescent years.

[dannyboy35]

  I think it’s overall more entertaining because the players are so incredible. The ball handling , passing and shooting is incredible. The players have beaten the game. I never want handchecking back in the league . It’s an admission you’re too slow and it should not be rewarded. I’d just eliminate illegal d. Let the d scheme just as much as the offense. Free up everyone to be their best and let the chips fall.
  This harkens back to before 15 years ago probably but if you are a “physical player “today then you are probably fouling. It should never again be left up to a referee to judge how much pressure a defensive player is putting on a guy’s hip in real time. I never want to see that again. Players  were constantly arguing and they had reason to.

[tonydelk]

Basketball is more entertaining now but I liked basketball in the 80's better.  You can't tell me the guys today could handle the physical play back then.  A few like Lebron, Dwight Howard, Marcus Smart could have but a lot of these guys today would wilt like a flower.  It's more entertaining because of the athleticism, ball handling.  The pace of play is fast and can be a thing of beauty to watch.  The flopping and whining of players is out of hand.  There are good and bad things today versus the 80's but to me I love pace.  I love seeing ball movement.  I love when a guy get's his ankles broke.  You see that a lot more today. 

[JSD]

I believe it's better now. It opens the game up to real skill and craft over height and size genetics. Someone like Shaq, 20 years ago, almost seemed like a cheat code, that can't happen today.

[JSD]

Much of my algorithms on social media are Basketball centric, this guy, Mike Peek came up on my feed and I just think he’s hilarious trashing on NBA basketball of yesteryear.


https://youtube.com/shorts/NvJ9Syz1_kg?si=I_nfg-bKZrLsYbO5

His content is pretty funny

[johnnygreen]

Does anyone have the info on how many free throws now vs then?

2024: 22.7 FTAs per game (league median around 22 FTAs / 100 possessions)
2008: 24.9 FTAs per game (league median around 27 FTAs / 100 possessions)

I think the 2024 FTA per game is higher than it should be when you consider the 3 point attempts per 100 possessions. In 2024 it's 35.1, while in 2008 it was 19.6.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I believe it's better now. It opens the game up to real skill and craft over height and size genetics. Someone like Shaq, 20 years ago, almost seemed like a cheat code, that can't happen today.

Shaq was indeed a cheat code, but he was also an anomaly. Guys like Olajuwon, McHale, etc. had a lot of excellent moves (skill) in the post, and it took a lot of skill to dribble and shoot well against defenders who could hand check and be way more physical than today's defenders are allowed to be. Recent years have also seen the advent of serial foul-hunters—guys (such as Harden) who spend as much time and energy getting foul calls as they do looking for good shots. Between all the 3pt shooting and having certain guys taking 20+ foul shots a game, I'm not very entertained. I also don't think there's as much thought, in terms of strategizing, in today's game, as most offense boils down to "get 3pt shooters open" and most defense boils down to "close out on 3pt shooters." So what we've mostly ended up with is a lot of screens out past the 3pt line, with a lot of defenders employing switches. Not a lot of wrinkles or alternate strategies.

[SHAQATTACK]

I like it now better than 10 years ago , with no rules for stars …Harden and Bron getting away with every trick in the book , never getting calls .  Refs still get stuff wrong a lot .

Rules should be equal across the player talent .  It’s hard to watch seeing refs giving stars so much love all the time . 

Let em play refs

I agree but Tatum never gets any love from the refs.

All the refs got a “Jones” for Boston I think

[SparzWizard]

All players do now is shoot 3s 26 feet out, 50 feet out, or 80 feet out.

And very little post-up moves like the KG days. Less entertaining

[Yuckabuck33]

I think it's not the volume of threes taken, it's the volume of bad threes taken. Particularly by people who aren't good at them.
If we're talking Sam Howser, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Danny Ainge, Larry Bird, Steph Curry, it's exciting to watch them shoot threes.
But not EVERYONE should be shooting threes. I mean, as a Celtics fan, I love when Giannis or Randle are shooting threes, because they tend to miss. But that's not enjoyable basketball.

[Who]

Less entertaining.

I miss real fastbreaks. Guys filling lanes. That was beautiful. Today it is a one man break with 4 guys spotting up for 3s. It is ugly.

I don't like the spaced out courts in today's league. They ignore too much space below the three point line. It is unnatural. That is not basketball. That is hot-spots. It is gimmicky. Like the old And-One streetball leagues. Fun gimmicky basketball but not real ball.

The NBA used to be the pinnacle. You couldn't just hot-dog (ball-hogging, selfish, one-on-one play, over-dribbling) your way through your career. You had to play with teamwork. You had organization. You had physicality. You had variety. All reduced today in favour of hot-dogging streetball.

A dumbed down league. And a league that has taken physicality and intensity out of the game.