MICHIGAN'S MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2015-2016

[hack]

JUST FIX THE DAMN REFFING. Should be a full-time job. It's important enough and the revenue is there.

[hack]

I need both CBB and the NBA. On any given night in Jan or Feb it's CBB all the way, but the NBA playoffs are a treasure. I agree with shortening the season. I hate having to choose to be inside and watching TV on a beautiful weekend afternoon. I'd like to see the playoffs start the day after the NCAA tourney final.

[iam416]

Golden State and the Western Conference playoffs are really worth watching. If Irving can get his foot/knee right, a Cavs-GSW final would be really entertaining...and if Love were playing it would be even better and actually a toss-up (IMO).

Overall, I prefer CBB by a considerable margin, but there's definitely some NBA well-worth watching.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The NBA is slowly but surely trending away from defense and it's improving the product tremendously.

[Hannibal]

I would rather kill myself than watch an NBA game.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Then you probably hate basketball in general. Because take the best NCAA game all year and it'd look like shit compared with the typical Warriors, Cavs, Rockets, or Hawks game.

[iam416]

Eh, you either like it or you dont. I personally have no interest in 2-1 hockey games even if they are in the playoffs and in overtime. To each their own.

IMO, the NBA is enjoying a resurgence in watchability from the nadir of the 90s and the Riley-fication of the game.

[froot loops]

I think the defense is actually better in the NBA nowadays but the offense is so much better that it's tough to defend. So many people can shoot threes and the passing is so much better, it's impossible to defend. Unfortunately for the college game it looks like the 90's NBA. The majority of teams are grinding it out and nobody can run a break.

[Mike]

I would rather kill myself than watch an NBA game.

Let's make a pact.

[Hannibal]

Then you probably hate basketball in general. Because take the best NCAA game all year and it'd look like shit compared with the typical Warriors, Cavs, Rockets, or Hawks game.

I don't love basketball but it's about more than the skill level. I can't stand NBA personalities and I find the games to be horribly boring and lacking in intensity. And, like college football, I think that some sports are at their best when the talent is high but not elite. You get more variety in systems and styles and more unpredictability in general.

[hack]

Froot's right about college basketball, but I guess for me I just don't mind low-scoring basketball. As long as everything is contested. As for the NBA, well, it's evolving beautifully right now and I agree that it's not that defenses are shit but that if you can throw the right mix of pass/shoot players out there and you just keep moving the ball, that's awfully hard to defend. And very fun to watch. But there's no point in the NBA's regular season save for some Sunday-afternoon rivalry games. Just pick it up once the playoffs begin.

[iam416]

Regular season is filler.

Agreed re defense. If anyone watched JR Smith last night they know it wasn't a matter of bad defense. And honestly, nearly any time LBJ bulls his way to the rim it's not a matter of bad defense. And that's not even mentioning the glorious hoops GSW plays. Who would have thunk that Draymond Green would fit so perfectly into an NBA roster? Not I.

[*JD*]

I wanted Green on the Pistons as a 2nd round pick but I didn't think he'd elevate himself to the point he has. I thought he'd be a good 6th man.

[*JD*]

As an aside, does anyone have a theory why big muscular guys are the ones who seem to struggle at the line (Shaq, Wilt, Ben Wallace, Cris Dudley, D. H?oward)

I've always heard a big part of the problem is that their hands are too big to put the proper touch on the ball. I don't know if I buy that, though. I used to be great at pop-a-shot.

[hack]

Heh. Kahwi Leonard and Elton Brand escaped the huge hands curse. Okafor maybe won't. I'm not sure I really buy it either, but in the case of Ben he had very small hands. Missed some dunks because of it.