Reply With Quote
I am also one of those who prefers watching defense-oriented basketball. But, as so many of you have pointed out, Stern et.al. changed the rules to allow more points to be scored, believing (with some reason) that offensive derring-do outshines defensive clamp-downs for the average, casual fan.
That is who Stern went after in trying to expand the base of tv watchers and sell more ad revenues, the casual fan. Fans of the game itself like the way it used to be played, but there aren't enough people like that willing to pay the prices the owners want. That, plus the marketing of celebrity-driven basketball also pulls in the more casual fan.
One thing that I think we all have to give credit to Pop etc. for is the change they have created in the team's approach. When we were playing defense-first basketball, we also had two hall of fame 7 footers, and all the perimeter guys had to do was force the shooters off the 3 point line into the waiting blocks of Duncan and Robinson. When we lost Robinson, it took Pop longer than I thought it should have to figure out that our perimeter guys were still playing the same defense as they had been before, but now they were forcing shooters to go to the rim to be met by the like of Nesterovich and Perdu. It didn't work, and the league kept changing the rules to enable more and more scoring. Plus, our offense hadn't changed and it was still considered boring by casual fans.
Finally, Pop got both the message and the perimeter talent to change the offensive set around a catch and shoot game that relies on ball movement more than the Duncan 'bounce, bounce, bounce, back into the paint and shoot over somebody' game that was getting us wins but little ad revenue or national accolades. The offense we have now doesn't get as many foul calls as other teams because we are moving so much. Teams like OKC and Miami rely on superstars who go one-on-one and get foul calls. I still prefer to watch our kind of basketball, and I think that the coaching staff has done a terrific job of getting and utilizing talent that remains consistent with a true basketball fan's approach to the game, even if we can't win championships because the league remains celebrity and big-market driven.
All of the above is why I still prefer to watch our team play than most others, why I believe that we will win lots of regular season games, but that, as many of you have pointed out, we are not going to be able to win the whole thing because the league is going to want its product to remain what it has become.
To sell the Spurs, the league would have to sell basketball as a game. The league would have to educate the public to appreciate the game itself. That is not going to happen. Dunk contests and celebrity one-on-one play will continue to be rewarded.
We have to accept our reward as being able to watch the best basketball being played the right way from a small market and non-celebrity team as long as we can.
I like this team. We don't always play well. But we play right most of the time, and we play basketball. That's pretty much enough for me.
I have never bought into the 'real season is the playoffs', precisely because that is when the last thing that is important to winning is how well the game is being played. Of much greater import is who is playing and what sells. Thus, refs count more and celeb players count more in the playoffs than in the regular season. That is the product that is being sold.
