The NBA is Unwatchable

And has been for a number of years now.

I was a huge NBA fan back in the 80's and early 90's. I used to dread baseball season because it would cut into the NBA highlights on ESPN. Well, not anymore. I can't remember the last time I watched an NBA game. In what other sport can intentionally fouling people help you win? Where else do players give anything close to maximum effort only in the last five or ten minutes? Why in god's name do we have to sit through an 82 game regular season so that basically every team can make the play-offs, and then be subjected to seven game series after seven game series for what feels like three months? This is a disaster. You would have to pay me a substantial sum of money to induce me to attend an entire NBA game, regardless of the match-up.

I posit the NBA changes to three factors:

1)Guaranteed money to the players has resulted in lazy, undisciplined play....particularly during the regular season.
2)The players are unlikable. The NBA certainly doesn't have a monopoly on this problem, but considering that David Stern's league is personality driven (in the NFL they wear helmets) it does far more damage.
3)The quality of the product has deterioriated. This is due to several factors. Players skipipng college, and ESPN's enamoration with dunks, have killed mid-range shooting as a skill. Illegal defense calls (yes, it has been adapted, but any rules that prohibit you from playing any defense you want are asinine) encourage one on one play and make it far easier to force defensive players to rotate, resulting in more open look threes with less ball movement. The season is too long, leading to tired, unmotivated play.

In addition to the above problems, the embarassments at the Olympics have demonstrated that there is more to basketball than sheer athleticism. Freed from Defensive three second in the key calls, foreign players dared the NBA to shoot from 15-20 feet....and our players failed miserably. Ball movement and fundamentals became more important than a thirty-five inch vertical. Watching Argentina play was a thing of beauty. Watching the Detroit Pistons versus the Chicago Bills is an exercise in patience. American audiences noticed.

I think problems 1 and 2, above, are unfixable without drastic changes in the collective bargaining agreement. Very, very few people will play as hard when their contract is guaranteed. Those who give 100% effort anyway become champions. Those that won't, become the typical NBA player (at least until his contract year). Get rid of guaranteed contracts. Make it retroactive if possible. The only guaranteed money should be the signing bonus. You will see better behavior and better effort almost immediately. As for the third problem, above, start with better officiating, scrap the illegal defense rule, and hope that forcing players to attend at least one year of college will improve their fundamentals.

I'd place the NBA fifth right now on my list of U.S. sports in terms of popularity: NFL, College Football, MLB, Nascar/Auto-racing. And, it's a distant fifth. Ask any male 18-35 if they'd rather watch an MMA match or a regular season NBA game, I guarantee it is 90%+ in favor of MMA.