Even Charles Barkley thinks fans should watch NHL playoffs

[Hictor Vedman*]

no parity at all. get a bloody hard cap. NBA stars control where they want to go and stack their teams. they just make the owner pay 40-50 mill luxury taxes. let GMs actually be GMs.

And just think, next season the salary cap in the NBA will be 121 million (allegedly). Which is an 8 million increase, for those that aren't keeping track.

Also remember that NBA squads only have 12 players and SOME scratches.

NBA is just doomed to being a battle of popularity and nothing more.

 

[yoss]

Barkley would know. He's from the best era the NBA ever saw, the current rendition of the NBA post season is a long wait for the finals to begin basically. No one can **** with the Magic/Bird/Jordan era.

One of my favorite NBA players of all time, easily. Only guy who I consistently agree with on that TBS halftime panel as well. Ernie Johnson in particular makes me cringe at times like few other halftime/intermission sports casters, whatever you would call them.

 

[saffronleaf]

The Spurs or Rockets can challenge the Warriors, the Spurs have been the third best team in the league the past 4 years and are capable of an upset and it would not be considered huge.

Boston is underrated and can put up a fight against Cleveland, they are the number 1 seed in the East for a reason.

lmfao

 

[Mikeshane]

The pathetic thing about the NBA is they don't try to fix it, they build their business on marketing and celebrities. Who cares how uncompetitive and boring the product on the court is, just sell sell sell.

 

[KingBilly]

The NBA has to live by the sword and die by it. When the competitive balance of your sport is determined by a few star faces then yes, it offers infinite opportunities to market those faces(i.e, Lebron). But when fans in the other 26 teams get cranky about the lack of hope to win a championship, well there's not a lot you can tell them.

The lack of competitiveness they have in the first two rounds is the price they pay for their star driven league. And many would say it's worth it. Certainly from a financial perspective in the United States it's worth it. That close-up of Lebron and hours spent on it on Sportscenter is worth millions.

It's not my game, but I get the celebrity appeal of it.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

tonight's spurs-rockets game was more exciting than the BC election.

To me I just have never liked basketball because of the way many games are ended.

Oh my team just lost. Oh well. Let's just all go to centre court and hug it out. Give a couple of high fives and catch up with the opponent. Congratulate them on their win. Act as if nothing is the matter.

Screw that. Maybe I am just competitive but I would never want to do that. I just lost and I want to get to the dressing room. Losing is not fun. I do not want to go and hug the guy who beat me.

I can't stand watching Harden. At least half of his "shot attempts" consistent of him jumping into someone, flailing his arms in the air and looking for a foul. It's everything I dislike about the current NBA.

agreed. dwyane wade in the 2006 NBA finals was one of the most disgusting things i've ever seen in my life. which made this all the more sweet:

 

[Martinez]

Not a huge NBA fan but the series' that don't involve the cavs or the warriors have been pretty good. But everything is pointless until those two play eachother.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

The Spurs or Rockets can challenge the Warriors, the Spurs have been the third best team in the league the past 4 years and are capable of an upset and it would not be considered huge.

Boston is underrated and can put up a fight against Cleveland, they are the number 1 seed in the East for a reason.

Not a chance.

Warriors will destroy whoever comes through in 4-5 games.

 

[c9777666]

I think the difference lies here:

Few if any think the Cavs/Warriors will be extended to 6 games. Heck, if they BOTH somehow lost, it would probably he as earth-shaking as Giguere over Detroit in 2003.

Conversely, some on here think the team with the fewest points of any playoff team might be the West favorite.

And depending on what happens with WSH/PIT, a team that would have been the #6 seed in the East might take advantage if they've used up too much energy here.

If an OTT vs. PIT/WSH ECF goes 6 games OTOH, that's more believable.

 

[Reality Check]

Conversely how many here(and around the United States) are really going to watch the SCF if Washington or Pittsburgh aren't involved?

People claim to love parity. Yet, don't bother to watch if it happens.

Meanwhile the NBA has always been a superstar league. Folks like Barkley pine for the 80's despite the fact that Boston or LA were virtually in the finals every year.

Chicago won six times in the 90's. The Lakers, Spurs and Heat have all won multiple titles since.

The only real change the NBA needs to make is to switch back the first round to a best of 5. But that's a TV money deal and thus will never happen.

 

[MattMartin]

Interesting comment considering the first round in the NHL playoffs had zero game sevens.

Quality over quantity.

 

[Iceman]

Even if he is right (which he is 100%), it's easy to say when the NBA final teams were decided before the season started and the SCF is in the 2nd round and is going to a 7th game.

 

[Tofveve]

Though I can understand arguments for the superiority of Football and Baseball (even though I think hockey is the best, most-exciting sport), basketball for me is the clear inferior product of the 4 sports. I think it has the widest demographic for those that can play it (outside of soccer), so that's why it has the following it does.

 

[bert]

The Conference Finals and Finals are very good in the NBA but it's unwatchable before that.

So how can you be invested at all if there is no interest or adversity for the teams to get to that point. Cleveland is gonna breeze to the finals and so is golden state. We might not have an exciting series that actually matters until the finals. What a boring sport.

I agree the NCAA ball is incredibly exciting it almost feels like a different sport. I

 

[Tofveve]

I cannot understand how any HFers can also watch basketball. srsly?!

The NHL series have all been good so far, and the NBA series have been... actually I have no idea how they've been - I can't waste my time on basketball.

!

 

[Bruinaura]

I'm thankful I live in a city (Nashville) that has NHL hockey and no NBA basketball. There is not a single thing about basketball that I like.

 

[bigbabybuda]

I'm just sitting here waiting for the finals which will be a hell of a show. Nothing the NBA can really do to fix it at the moment or until Lebron gets to old to dominate anymore. Dude is the true meaning of the word Generational. Only a handful of athletes across all sports have even compared to his greatness over my lifetime.

Phelps
Bolt
Jordan
Gretzky
Serena Williams
Navratilova
Schumacher
Woods
Stenmark
Sörenstam
Bonds (Controversial but the G.O.A.T)
Mayweather

At the end of his career Lebron will go down with these types of names as athletes who transcended their sports. I feel lucky to get to watch him play even if the outcome seems predetermined.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Conversely how many here(and around the United States) are really going to watch the SCF if Washington or Pittsburgh aren't involved?

People claim to love parity. Yet, don't bother to watch if it happens.

I am going to guess most people dedicated enough to be on HF will watch regardless.

 

[123TripleDoge]

Used to love the NBA in the 90's. Now it's unwatchable, and has been for a long time. Can't stand anything about the current product or those who seriously follow it.

 

[Sleepy]

Most hockey fans, in my experience, don't hate the game of basketball, they hate the culture, refereeing/diving, and the way that basketball is shoved down everybody's throats. Because we both have the 82 regular season games and 4 playoff rounds at the same time of the year, and it is just forced down our throats in America that basketball is the superior sport. I remember, I was watching an NHL stream on my laptop, and the ****ing stream shifted to a basketball game. It's so irritating because we all know none of these games matter until the Warriors and Cavaliers play one another. I live in the Bay, equal distance from Oracle Arena and SAP Center. You know how ****ing sick I am of hearing about the Warriors, and having them shoved down my throats? Especially when the first 2 rounds of the playoffs don't matter in the slightest.

It's refreshing to hear something like this.

The good thing about the NBA playoffs is the best team (both on court and on paper) almost always wins.

That's also the worst thing about the NBA playoffs.

 

[Charliebox]

When Abdul Jabbar/Magic were around vs Bird, it was LA/Boston almost every year.

Then when Jordan was around, it was all Chicago.

Then came Kobe/Shaq, and it was all LA again.

Then came Lebron and it's been Miami/Cleveland.

Sure there have been some other champions along the way, but the fact remains that when the superstars in the NBA are at the top of their game, they are pretty much unstoppable.

The sport by it's very nature is all about the superstar. There are 5 guys on the court and if you have one or two superstars, you are going to win (unless they decide they don't 'feel' like showing up).

It's funny that Barkley is *****ing about the current state of the game. The same thing has happened multiple times before and for longer periods. The same thing is going to happen again and again. A salary cap won't change anything. The only time the NBA is exciting, IMO, is when there are no dominant players for a few years.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

I'm just sitting here waiting for the finals which will be a hell of a show. Nothing the NBA can really do to fix it at the moment or until Lebron gets to old to dominate anymore. Dude is the true meaning of the word Generational. Only a handful of athletes across all sports have even compared to his greatness over my lifetime.

Phelps
Bolt
Jordan
Gretzky
Serena Williams
Navratilova
Schumacher
Woods
Stenmark
Sörenstam
Bonds (Controversial but the G.O.A.T)
Mayweather

At the end of his career Lebron will go down with these types of names as athletes who transcended their sports. I feel lucky to get to watch him play even if the outcome seems predetermined.

Thank you for appreciating how amazing he is. If he somehow pulls it off this year as well, those Jordan vs LeBron arguments really pick up heat. He's already a Top 5 player in my opinion but we could very well be watching the greatest without fully realizing it yet.

And what's really special is how hyped he was. There's never been a more hyped basketball player and arguably even an athlete in NA sports. For fairly recent hockey fans, it'd be like if Lindros matched his expectations and was changing the "Big 4" to the "Big 5."

I'm a Detroit/Michigan guy so rooting for Ohio based teams/players isn't easy, but I just marvel at everything that LeBron is and has done so far in his career. To me he's the greatest pure athlete that I've ever seen with his combination of size, speed and strength, skill, and IQ. You're not supposed to have that many elite traits.

 

[Musashi]

The TNT panel is the best in the business

 

[Mergatroidskittle]

I cannot understand how any HFers can also watch basketball. srsly?!

The NHL series have all been good so far, and the NBA series have been... actually I have no idea how they've been - I can't waste my time on basketball.

I can't to believe people are this closed minded still... the audacity of people to enjoy another sport other than hockey!

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

He's not wrong.

This year I've tried to sell the Nashville Predators to people who complain about there being no upsets in the NBA playoffs. Did the same thing with the Kings 5 years ago, Flyers in 2010. Their response is usually something like, "Me watch Hockey? Yeah whatever".

Their loss.

The Sharks were a 6th seed last year.