Poll of the Day > In its current state, is the NBA a joke?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Two obvious contenders being GSW and CLE who we knew would be playing in this championship since last year's ended

2-3 arguably "competitive" teams in San Antonio, OKC, and Houston

Then there's the rest of the league.

Is there a soul outside of Ohio or California who gives a flying fart about the NBA at this point in time?

The NHL playoffs right now, with an 8th seed currently tied 2-2 in the Stanley Cup finals, are opening tons of eyes when it comes to the general lack of competitiveness in the NBA. And this is hockey, which is arguably not even in the top 5 most popular sports in the US.
---

we are living in the joke era
---

Does an ursaring shit in the woods?
---

Veedrock- posted...

Does an ursaring shit in the woods?

I have no idea - the Pokemon lore doesn't cover defecation very well.
---

2-3 arguably "competitive" teams in San Antonio, OKC, and Houston

If you put Houston in that conversation, I'd say Boston should be in there, too. They're as good as Houston and have a better coach. Curious to see what they do with that number one pick. They're only a piece or two away from being legit contenders.

But yeah. These superteams kind of hurt the overall product. A lot of the playoffs have been just plain boring to watch.
---

It's the same as football (soccer) now.
---

Far-Queue posted...

2-3 arguably "competitive" teams in San Antonio, OKC, and Houston

If you put Houston in that conversation, I'd say Boston should be in there, too. They're as good as Houston and have a better coach. Curious to see what they do with that number one pick. They're only a piece or two away from being legit contenders.

But yeah. These superteams kind of hurt the overall product. A lot of the playoffs have been just plain boring to watch.

Yeah both are debatable in terms of if they fit the mold of "competitive" in terms of the playoffs.

But when you talk about either of them and their ability to compete against GSW? Forget about it. No argument to be had there.
---

NHL is the only good professional sports league
---

Muffinz0rz posted...

Yeah both are debatable in terms of if they fit the mold of "competitive" in terms of the playoffs.

But when you talk about either of them and their ability to compete against GSW? Forget about it. No argument to be had there.

Agreed. I'd even say the Cavs are pretty much unbeatable in the East at this point, and maybe for a good 3 years still. But GSW > Cavs all day. Wouldn't surprise me if Cleveland somehow won the Finals this year, though. Even being down 2-0. Don't expect them to, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.
---

And when exactly were there more that about a half dozen serious contenders in the NBA?
---

Blaqthourne posted...

And when exactly were there more that about a half dozen serious contenders in the NBA?

Thing is, there's literally only two real contenders. There's a wide talent gap between GSW/CLE and those other "contenders". The other teams mentioned in this topic have only an outside chance of competing. More "what if?" scenarios than anything. A half dozen real contenders would be a breath of fresh air. Completely change the landscape and charge up the playoffs.
---

How does this even happen? I thought the salary cap was supposed to prevent this type of thing.
---

NBA has been a joke for a while, albeit not super long

They are making more money being "dramatic (Do we really need a FT7)

Same thing is happening with the NFL. If it weren't for Brady I couldn't care less about it. Sports are becoming too focused on the entertainment aspect, don't get me wrong UFC does it right, but at the same time it's hard to take anything seriously anymore
---

mastermix3000 posted...

Same thing is happening with the NFL.

To a certain extent. The difference though is that the Patriots don't have an NFC counterpart. The expectation for Pats fans is that they'll make the AFC championship game because they'll just steamroll everyone else in the AFC with little trouble.

The difference is that the NFC does not have a team that can reasonably expect to make an NFC game year after year. As a result, there's at least a level of competition in the NFC. I mean even last year, I highly doubt there were many people taking bets on the Falcons making the super bowl.

The NBA has CLE on one side and GSW on the other. So there's just no competition at all. That's what makes the whole thing boring, as opposed to just one conference being boring.

Now, of course, I could be biased - I'm from Kansas City, and we don't have an NBA team. But even if we did, I can't imagine caring about the state of the NBA any more than I do right now, sans a team.
---

There has been more champions this decade in the NBA than in the 2000's, the 90's, the 80's, the 60's, and the 40's. Tied with the 50's, and only the 70's have more.

This is nothing new for the NBA. You either like it or you don't, it'll never be different than this. It is a player dominated league.

The NBA has been joke for the last 15 years.

The NFL could be considered a bit of a joke with the Patriots, but at least they've never been to 3 straight super bowls. They have been to the AFC Championship game every year since 2011 though.

I don't understand why dominance means it's a joke

Most team sports are or have become like this. I wouldn't call it joke though.
---

There are other reasons why the NBA is a joke. It's not just the two team dominance.

Does the NBA still not call traveling enough?

Sounds the same as European soccer/football *cough* German "Bayernliga" *cough*

The Celtics, Spurs and Rockets all had a better season record than the Cavaliers, and the Raptors, Clippers, and Jazz all had the same record. Cavaliers just play better in the playoffs I suppose, but they aren't dominating the East necessary.

Warriors though... yeah its absurd.
---

fuck Nashville and Pittsburgh. If you aint from the yay, you dont matter.
---

madadude posted...

The Celtics, Spurs and Rockets all had a better season record than the Cavaliers, and the Raptors, Clippers, and Jazz all had the same record. Cavaliers just play better in the playoffs I suppose, but they aren't dominating the East necessary.

Warriors though... yeah its absurd.

Cavs sort of took their foot off the gas towards the end of the season, though. I recall them mentioning that first seed wasn't important to them, because they were confident in their team or something. I'll try to find the quote.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/03/tyronn_lue_may_punt_on_cavalie.html

^ it was Tyron Lue who wanted to rest his starters going into the postseason.
---

the warriors just run down the court and shoot 3s as fast as possible. kinda weird but it obviously works.
---