Is the NBA stuck?

The National Basketball Association’s competition committee is studying ways to improve defense around the league. This was revealed by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and is most likely due to the absurd scoring in the recent NBA All-Star Game. This year’s edition resulted in a 211-186 win for the East, resulting in numerous offensive records being shattered, most probably to never be reset again. One thing is for sure, this generation of players really knows how to take things too far.

The league has always set the example for how to get scores up there. From the tight defenses of the 1980’s and 1990’s, rules were changed to favor the offensive players. At the time, they had a reason to. Michael Jordan was selling out all arenas, to the point that legends like Charles Barkley said that each team should chip in to pay his salary. Besides, the fact of the matter is that you don’t watch a basketball game to see someone rebound. And you can’t predict when a spectacular blocked shot will be made. No, you’re there to see players score. And you want it with all the trimmings: bursts of peed, impossible elevation, and superhuman athletic ability. Throw in some more acrobatics, please.

As players’ offensive abilities were unleashed, it became a game of how to top one another. The danger with that is that it desensitizes audiences to the amazing. Once you’ve seen a 360, the next one doesn’t get you as excited anymore. In the 1970’s, ticket-buying fans would come to games early, hoping to see something unbelievable in the warm-up line. Now, they’ve seen it all. Hence, the slam dunk contest and All-Star Game have become the epitome of casualness around the greatest skills the league has.

There is a solution, a callback to days past. If the NBA allows for more intense defense, then the games will get more passionate. Offensive players will push back. There may be a fight here and there. But that is also an expression of their competitiveness. This is, of course, a huge risk. Players are no longer just athletes. They are money-making assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more. Therein is the incongruity. You want to protect your assets. But basketball is a contact sport which sometimes turns them into human projectiles. How do you reconcile the two?

In this writer’s opinion, it will be a gradual process, filled with experimentation, and complaining from the league’s star players. But it has to be done. The air has been let out of the NBA’s balloon. How else are you going to get it back in? Everyone has to sacrifice.