Official Detroit Pistons thread

[chemiclord]

The NBA final game 7 was the highest rated finals since the 98 finals with Jordan against the Jazz.

Of course the superteams drive interest, if you are rooting for the superteam to fail you are still interested. Duh.

What I am asserting is as contoversial as claiming the sky is blue. There has never been a time where you can picture many teams being legit contenders to a title.

Repeating your flawed premise over and over isn't going to make it correct.

[chemiclord]

People watch the NBA when there are compelling matchups or their home team is in the mix.

That's why the regular season numbers are going straight into the shitter along with early round playoff games. When you only have 4-5 teams with a realistic shot, the only compelling matchups are going to be in the Conference Finals and occasionally some Conference semi-final series.

Which... *gasp!*... matches pretty much EXACTLY how the NBA's ratings looked like this year. Pretty much no one gave a fuck until San Antonio/OKC played, at which point the ratings rebounded.

How are the ratings going to look now that the only compelling games are going to be in the Finals... and it's going to be Cleveland/Golden State again only without the monkey on the back of the Cavaliers driving the narrative?

Answer: Not good, no matter how much Froot wants to believe otherwise.

[FVD]

The internet is amazing sometimes.

[ame]https://twitter.com/khristen/status/750023509733179392[/ame]

[chemiclord]

THAT was spectacular.

[Futureshock]

No size or depth, though. They will be digging for scraps. Bench players are making $10+ million thos offseason, so they will be extremely thin.

Someone will take less to play along and look great playing next to them, get a ring and get major moolah next summer.

[Futureshock]

The problem with the NBA is twofold.

Because it only takes 1 great player on a team to make it competitive, it is easy to "fix" a team fast.

The other situation is the current mind set of the player. No loyalty, which I don't necessarily have a problem with since owners are also not loyal, but the mind set that, fuck the NBA and the fans, I'm gonna get my ring no matter what.

The players only think in short term, don't care about big picture of product or legacy.

And if no one cares until the Finals, how long do you think THAT model will be sustainable?

How much interest do you think there will be in Cleveland/Golden State IV? How about V?

You need more than two teams with a realistic shot in order for that interest you claim is there to sustain itself. Regular season ratings are nearing all-time lows. ESPN and TNT might be "content" with trading NBA Finals for now... but without a more compelling product by next negotiation, the NBA might find their next big contract isn't there.

The playoffs and finals will be great. I'm going to watch. The issue is the 82 games of the other 28 teams in the regular season. 2.378 games (minus the 82 games I might watch on DVR after the fact if the Pistons win) that I have no interest in watching.

The NBA is all about the "Superstar player" because the majority of NBA fans are all about that. No loyalty? The NBA turned that corner 22 years ago and haven't looked back. The call disparity assures they get the matchup they want. Almost every time.

That has been the model for the NBA for years. The Decision as annoying as it was, drove interest in the league and contributed to the latest huge TV deal.. It has always been a league of a couple main event teams and the rest being jobbers. While there is a remote chance they will lose you as a fan, but they will pick up more.fans to replace you. A third matchup of those two teams will be blockbuster as will the coverage.

The NBA cannot buy this amount of publicity.

There has rarely been a time in the NBA where there has been more than 4 teams that were legit contenders.

There is no way to prove or disprove this due to the subjectivity of the statement, but I disagree. It's purely opinion based. Were the 2004 Pistons pre-season contenders? I would say no. There were always more then 4 contenders before the league took a vested interest in "steering" specific teams that had specific players towards being on the big stage.

Standing on a point based in subjectivity is useless for you to say and for anyone else to base an opinion on.

The NBA is a league of flash and trash. And if the owners ever tried to push something that the superstars didn't like they'd be dead in the water. So, they get what they want. Then some people get mad when they act like spoiled brats. Why? BECAUSE THEY CAN!

[Futureshock]

DeAngelo Hall has some advice for Kevin Durant

Posted by Mike Florio on July 6, 2016, 9:30 AM EDT
APAs the basketball world processes a fact that some regarded not long ago as inconceivable, Washington defensive back DeAngelo Hall has opted instead to protect his team’s fan base.
Via the Washington Post, Hall took to Twitter to urge D.C. native Kevin Durant to not become a Raiders fan.
(For his part, Hall should at some level be a Raiders fan, given that Oakland once paid him $8 million for only eight games.)
Teammate Su’a Cravens cared less about Durant’s football allegiances and more about the impact of Durant’s move on the NBA, with a series of humorous tweets including threats to give people the [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vUNDY45Jc"]Uncle Phil/Jazzy Jeff treatment[/ame] if they pick the Warriors on NBA 2K17 when playing the game at Cravens’ house.
While Cravens also vowed not to watch basketball this year due to the presumption that the Warriors will win the NBA title, keep in mind that, 16 years ago, Washington had a team that many were ready to crown before the season began, following the additions of Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith, Jeff George, and top-three draft picks LaVar Arrington and Chris Samuels. That team didn’t even make it to the playoffs.
But that’s the difference between football and basketball. With a dozen more players at a time on a gridiron, teamwork means a lot more, and the contributions of individuals easily become diluted. Even if the NFL would dump the salary cap, it would be difficult to get a collection of highly-paid stars to perform like a group of good-but-not-great players who knew their roles, accepted them, and stayed in their lanes, focusing on the three-word Bill Parcells mantra that was co-opted two years ago by the Patriots and that routinely omits a fourth word, beginning with an F.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Let's just skip the season and play-offs and start the NBA season with a 7 game series between the Cavs and Warriors?

[FVD]

How about a best of 25 series between Cleveland and Golden State and a simultaneous tournament for the other 28 teams?

[froot loops]

The playoffs and finals will be great. I'm going to watch. The issue is the 82 games of the other 28 teams in the regular season. 2.378 games (minus the 82 games I might watch on DVR after the fact if the Pistons win) that I have no interest in watching.

The NBA is all about the "Superstar player" because the majority of NBA fans are all about that. No loyalty? The NBA turned that corner 22 years ago and haven't looked back. The call disparity assures they get the matchup they want. Almost every time.



There is no way to prove or disprove this due to the subjectivity of the statement, but I disagree. It's purely opinion based. Were the 2004 Pistons pre-season contenders? I would say no. There were always more then 4 contenders before the league took a vested interest in "steering" specific teams that had specific players towards being on the big stage.

Standing on a point based in subjectivity is useless for you to say and for anyone else to base an opinion on.

The NBA is a league of flash and trash. And if the owners ever tried to push something that the superstars didn't like they'd be dead in the water. So, they get what they want. Then some people get mad when they act like spoiled brats. Why? BECAUSE THEY CAN!

The fact that you have to go to 2004 kind of proves my point. That was 12 years ago. I would say the Pistons were kind of the exception, but the 2003 Pistons were in the ECF so they were in the conversation and they were the rare team to add a huge piece at the deadline that totally changed their fortunes. After the Rasheed trade, they were one of 3 or 4 legit contenders.

If for 30 years you can only find 2 or 3 teams, it shows I am correct. I guess maybe last year's Warriors and the 2011 Mavericks can count.

[nhwbrooklyn]

The NBA has lots of rules to fight team stacking. The rules were not setup to handle an exploding cap limit and Golden State has done a masterful job managing their roster and finding talent too. Durant made a good choice if he wants the best chance to win possible and without taking major pay cut - no fault there.

In my mind, the LeBron Heat teams were way worse and far bigger BS in that the players involved colluded and probably did so at least a year in advance.

The most common scenario where vets take pay cuts for a chance to win it all is just going to happen and has been happening for a long time. The Spurs have been living off of that for decades. Helped the Lakers too. No ring for Karl Malone tho...

[chemiclord]

Froot's right in the sense that any given year there's generally only been 4 or 5 legitimate contenders and a couple really dark horse long shots that shock the world if everything falls into place perfectly.

The problem is right now, this coming season, there's only 2, and no one else even has a puncher's chance. Can that sustain viewership throughout a season? Cleveland/Golden State had two dynamics in this final that drew interest that only indirectly had to do with their "superteam" status.

1) Could the Warriors grasp the mantle of greatest team ever?

Or

2) Will the Cavaliers finally end the city's long championship drought?

Neither story line will be in play once those two teams meet in the Finals for the third straight year (because GS isn't going to chase 74 wins, and because no team in their respective conferences will have the firepower to stop this re-rematch).

Will enough fans be interested in tuning in to ANOTHER series between two teams that they've already seen twice before and were predestined to meet again? All signs point to "YAWN."

[nhwbrooklyn]

Piston's are not ready to contend either way so whatever. That said, with another sizable cap raise coming, I hope Detroit is a top 6 team quickly and an enticing destination for max player that wants to contend.

[chemiclord]

Piston's are not ready to contend either way so whatever. That said, with another sizable cap raise coming, I hope Detroit is a top 6 team quickly and an enticing destination for max player that wants to contend.

They won't be.

Unless you consider someone like Harrison Barnes to be a "max" player.

As long as there is a "max contract" at all, incredibly talented free agents will find somewhere else to be than Detroit.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Detroit should give up on all sports I guess... somebody should have told Andre.