All Star Weekend

[Russo21]

I for one can't stand All Star Weekend. In fact to the point where i hate it. Seriously, every year i just can't wait for the childish shit to finish and get back to Big Boy Basketball.

The Celebrity Game- Ugh it's just painful to watch
The Rising Stars Game- Barely qualifies as a basketball game with athletic people running around people who don't play defense, it's chronic.
The Dunk Contest- Athletic people, some with no basketball talent to speak of, taking minutes to miss and miss and finally make a dunk. All things we've seen before and don't want to see again. For the things we haven't seen that they try, it sux anyway.
Skills Challenge- The fuckers hardly even try.
Shooting Stars- I can live with the Legends and the Women mixing it up, but as usual, they dont even try til they get to the half court shot.
3 Point Shootout- One of the events i like. People genuinly try to nail every shot. Some go in, some miss. A good competition from some of the leagues best 3 point bombers.
The All Star Game- Has the possibility of being the main event on the NBA Calander Year but they don't exactly try. Play some good hard fucken defense and go for the rebounds, if they play a flat out game like they would every other game it will be Great. But they dont. Its all treated as a joke. The All-Star Game means nothing to the Players, get a few easy dunks and alleyoops and whatever.

I'd rather see East and West Battling it out, just like every other game, except having 12 freakish athletes on either team. A real big East v West SHOWDOWN. But the players are friendly with the opponent all game, there is no hard defence played at all. Its bullshit.

Why dont East and West give it a real go at each other for once? Quit with the sisi buddi buddi stuff Play as hard as you would in the playoffs. My view- They need some motivation like a home final to kick it off. Play East All Stars v West All Stars in a full on battle. Winner decidies who gets home court in NBA Finals. Usually its just the team with the higher win % at the end of the season who gets it gets it. This All Star Game could have big implications onto the playoffs. So you can guarentee everyone will play their hardest cause they all will want to win to get the Home Court Advantage in the Finals. East wins the all star game, then the finals start east. West Wins the all-Star and the finals start out west.

Surely that will instill a bit of pride and East and West will be going all out to win the all star game for once. The game is a mockary and this could surely fix it and ruffle a few feathures along the way.

[spursparker9]

The reason is that they want to avoid injuries.

Play as hard as you can and if you get injured then your real nba team is doomed.

[spursparker9]

I guess the only way to make it competitive is to give incentive.

Maybe let's say make the winner of the all star game has the home court advantage is the finals. eg. if East won, then whichever eastern conference team that get to the Finals will have the home court advantage over the western conference team.

[Russo21]

I guess the only way to make it competitive is to give incentive.

Maybe let's say make the winner of the all star game has the home court advantage is the finals. eg. if East won, then whichever eastern conference team that get to the Finals will have the home court advantage over the western conference team.

Exactly my friend

[PÒÓCH]

I guess the only way to make it competitive is to give incentive.

Maybe let's say make the winner of the all star game has the home court advantage is the finals. eg. if East won, then whichever eastern conference team that get to the Finals will have the home court advantage over the western conference team.

But how would that be fair for the winning team? Let us say the for argument sake that a team doesn't have a guy in the All Star team and they end up in the Finals, but they don't win the All star game. How is that fair? I don't like this because it's exactly what cost the Rangers the World Series. They were the best team all year but due to the loss of the All Star game they lost the Home field advantage. No.. let's keep this an exhibition. Remember that these guys don't play with each other so they don't have any practice together. To make it a real competition would require them to practice and run sets, this is supposed to be a respit from the long season not another major competition. Not to mention the Manu types would end up hurt and then there goes your season. I understand the want for more competitiveness, but it's up to the players to offer that. When comparing all of the other All Star games NFL, Hockey, Baseball , the NBA really outshines them all by a mile IMO.

[LittleCriminal]

What if the League Leaders were nominated to play in the All-Star Games..

For Instance,
Send the 1st and or 2nd statistical leader for each position separated by East and West.

Categories:


OFFENSE
DEFENSE
MISCELLANEOUS


Points (http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/scoring-per-game)
Rebounds (http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/rebounds)
Double Doubles


Assists (http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/assists)
Blocks (http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/blocks)




Steals (http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/steals)








The 3 point shoot out just could be the top six leaders in 3pt. Field Goals Made.

The fans could vote for the Slam Dunk Contest Players.

Skills Challenge Blows but could be better.

Celebrity game should be a Half Court Game.

Just a few thoughts...
Would be sweet IMO...

[Juggity]

Winner decidies who gets home court in NBA Finals.

I would rather they cancelled All Star Weekend than pull some bullshit like that.

Let's say a team with no all-stars in a given year makes it to the finals (Unlikely but bear with me). But their conference lost the All Star game. It wasn't the fault of the team without all-stars that their conference lost the game. They had no hand in that outcome. They're penalized needlessly on the biggest stage of basketball, and the outcome of that game may severely reduce their ability to win a championship due to lack of HCA.

Or let's say one player on an all star team puts on a dominating performance (not just hitting shots, but getting others involved and playing solid defense), but his teammates can't hit shots, and aren't putting forth similar effort. Is it the fault of the player that his all-star scrub team can't produce under pressure, and should that prevent him from taking his real team into the finals with HCA? No, of course not.

HCA should always be in the hands of the individual teams and their season record. That should go for every round of the playoffs, especially the Finals. Never in the hands of a needless showcase game like the ASG where players are trying to produce highlights and not get hurt.

[hater]

Allstar weeknd is for d children. Stop being selfish

[benstanfield]

Allstar weeknd is for d children. Stop being selfish

This. When they introduced Fallout Boy or whatever bullshit that was before the dunk contest I realized that being over 17 and giving a shit about the ASG is just a recipe for disappointment.

[Obstructed_View]

All-star weekend is David Stern's desperate attempt to get non-basketball people and kids interested in NBA basketball, and really just ends up promoting his ability to sell Kyrie Irving jerseys. Each event, in its own way, illustrates how the game has devolved since he became commissioner. No defense, no rebounding, no big men (other than the ones shooting from 25 feet away), no real effort, just fancy plays and big names.

[Bruno]

The dunk contest is pretty much ruined by the fact that only marginal players are doing it and by internet. If you want to see a no-name doing a great dunk, you can spend 5 minutes on youtube and see better dunks made by professional dunkers.

You can imagine twisting the all star weekend to make it better like with a H.O.R.S.E context with all stars or the ASG being USA vs. rest of the world. The idea that would be the more appealing to me would be to have 3 vs 3 tournament featuring the best NBA teams. A 3x3 Spurs team with Tim, Tony, Manu and Kawhi as sub would be sick to watch.

[jestersmash]

I agree. I only watch the 3 point competition for this very reason. It's the only genuine competition of the weekend because it's low impact and there's no reason not to try your best, so it ends up being a true competition.

I haven't watched a full all star game for probably 5 years now. I'll always start watching the first 5 minutes to see if things are different or more competitive, but it never happens.

If it's a close game with 5 minutes left I'll watch the last 5 minutes.

Beyond that, the all star game is a huge snorefest.

Edit: The skills challenged has devolved into total clusterfuck. In the past, the people who legally dribbled the ball lost, and the ones who won usually carried the ball around the cones.

Now, everyone illegally carries the ball around the cones.

After that, the 2 passes and the 3 point shot determine the winner.

[jestersmash]

The dunk contest is pretty much ruined by the fact that only marginal players are doing it and by internet. If you want to see a no-name doing a great dunk, you can spend 5 minutes on youtube and see better dunks made by professional dunkers.

You can imagine twisting the all star weekend to make it better like with a H.O.R.S.E context with all stars or the ASG being USA vs. rest of the world. The idea that would be the more appealing to me would be to have 3 vs 3 tournament featuring the best NBA teams. A 3x3 Spurs team with Tim, Tony, Manu and Kawhi as sub would be sick to watch.

It sounds like a good idea but how would you incentivize it? That's the fundamental problem with most of the competitions right now. There's 0 incentive to try hard, unless it's a low impact competition like the 3 point contest or (to a lesser degree) the dunk contest (although the dunk contest has its own problems as you mentioned).

Players only play for "pride" if it's it a close game with 5 minutes to go. They're willing to buckle down and play "real game" defense/offense for a couple of minutes, but they won't do it for the whole 48.

[LakerHater]

Tim's honors on his jacket!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/19ef8e10c94a23a95d99b69df61c6871/tumblr_midybgYwz81rugvcno1_500.jpg

[timvp]

IMO, it's fine. All-Star Weekend is aimed at a general demographic. Hardcore NBA fans -- especially those people who are mostly just a fan of one team -- aren't going to like it but that's understandable. This time of year is more about drawing in more casual NBA fans than keeping the hardcore fans happy. The regular season is such a grind and the playoffs are so intense that it's nice to have a relaxing weekend mixed in. IMO, there's simply no room for anything strenuous. Maybe if it were held after the season but during the middle of February when teams have less than a week off, the more casual the better, IMO.

And, yeah, I have it on in the background but I don't intently watch it. If there's a Spur competing, I'll look but otherwise I don't care. In the All-Star game, I just listen out to make sure no Spurs player gets injured ...

[Bruno]

It sounds like a good idea but how would you incentivize it? That's the fundamental problem with most of the competitions right now.

I think they would be more motivated than in a classic ASG because they would play for their own team but you can throw some money to motivate them. For example, you can have a $2M prize money with each winner getting $200K.

[TD 21]

"Winner decides who gets home court in NBA Finals" sounds great in theory, but in reality, it would be an unmitigated disaster, for the simple fact that playing at home is a much greater advantage in the NBA than it is in the MLB or any other sport for that matter.

[timvp]

I was just wondering, has anybody ever got hurt during Allstar weekend? I can't recall anyone ever getting hurt.

IIRC, Brad Miller sprained his ankle in 2004 and missed a couple weeks.

Kobe supposedly broke his nose and suffered a concussion last season but that could have been a Hollywood storyline.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I don't watch it at all, have no interest in any of it whatsoever. Haven't even watched highlights of the all star game or the dunk contest or anything. Maybe I'm wrong but I think more and more fans lose interest in it and they'll have to adjust it somehow, like Bruno suggested a Team USA vs Team World would be a nice change and would make it somewhat competitive. Also a 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 competition would be very appealing to any NBA fan I suppose.

[Russo21]

^ Agree. Team USA V Team World and 1 on 1 matchups would get me watching. If they tried.

[boutons_deux]

NBA has become pure show BUSINESS, hasn't been primarily about the game for a long time.

Over expanded: too many teams chasing too little coaching/playing talent and playing too many games.

[velik_m]

The dunk contest is pretty much ruined by the fact that only marginal players are doing it and by internet. If you want to see a no-name doing a great dunk, you can spend 5 minutes on youtube and see better dunks made by professional dunkers.

You can imagine twisting the all star weekend to make it better like with a H.O.R.S.E context with all stars or the ASG being USA vs. rest of the world. The idea that would be the more appealing to me would be to have 3 vs 3 tournament featuring the best NBA teams. A 3x3 Spurs team with Tim, Tony, Manu and Kawhi as sub would be sick to watch.

A H-O-R-S-E type dunking competition might be interesting...

[racm]

IMO, it's fine. All-Star Weekend is aimed at a general demographic. Hardcore NBA fans -- especially those people who are mostly just a fan of one team -- aren't going to like it but that's understandable. This time of year is more about drawing in more casual NBA fans than keeping the hardcore fans happy. The regular season is such a grind and the playoffs are so intense that it's nice to have a relaxing weekend mixed in. IMO, there's simply no room for anything strenuous. Maybe if it were held after the season but during the middle of February when teams have less than a week off, the more casual the better, IMO.

And, yeah, I have it on in the background but I don't intently watch it. If there's a Spur competing, I'll look but otherwise I don't care. In the All-Star game, I just listen out to make sure no Spurs player gets injured ...

Tl;dr bball fans who post on forums typically aren't the people All-Star Weekend is targeted toward.

[Kuestmaster]

I'm getting tired more and more each year of the all star weekend. but that home court thing it's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. OTOH, the USA vs rest of the world... I like that, have some potential to really be a competed and hard fought game. not the joke that the asg is right now where nobody plays defense anymore.

[boutons_deux]

"teams have less than a week off"

I note that our opponent on national TV Thursday night hasn't played since last Thurs.

[DesignatedT]

I note that our opponent on national TV Thursday night hasn't played since last Thurs.


I noticed this last night but when I started to think about it I think it probably benefits us that we get to play SAC before LAC. Teams tend to struggle their first game after ASB. Especially teams who were heavily involved in the event.