The Problems with the NBA

First, let me say I love basketball. I follow college and local high school basketball very closely. With that said you might think I would be an NBA fan, but that wouldn't be true. Of all the professional sports the NBA is the most difficult for me watch or even follow. It seems the NBA is becoming more like WWE wrestling than a legitimate sporting event.

The NBA is no longer about just basketball it is about entertainment and which player can provide the best highlight. Now, I understand sports should be entertaining, if they weren't we wouldn't watch. However, changing the rules and strategy of a sport to make it more entertaining takes away from the actual sport.

First you have the 24-second clock that eliminates many styles of offenses and makes the game more of one-on-one match-ups. Good passing skills and ball movement are basically not needed in the NBA game. The best offense is clearing out so a teams best player can make moves one on one against a defender. What happened to the rest of the team? Certain defenses are not even allowed in the NBA so the star players can shine and the opposing teams defenses have less of a chance of negating the best players. Where is the strategy in that? Defense should be a huge part of any type of sporting event, but it isn't in the NBA. Players are often penalized for playing good defense when officials call touch fouls. When was the last time Kobe Bryant drove the lane without getting a foul called? If a foul isn't called everyone complains because that is the norm of the game, to award the offensive player.

Next, I always thought to move with the basketball in your possession a player had to be dribbling it. It seems the NBA forgot this one. Players often take two to three steps without a dribble, isn't that wrong? Again this is done to assist offensive players in scoring. Not worrying about traveling in basketball is simply wrong. One of the most basic rules of the game is thrown out the window to make the game more exciting. What's next letting them should lay-ups instead of free throws?

Finally is the whole time out issue in the NBA. If a team in possession of the ball calls a time out they can advance the ball to half court, without doing anything except calling a time out! Can you imagine the same situation in football? Time outs would be more important than anything. Football teams could simply call a time out to advance the ball to mid-field. Why does the NBA even bother making a team use a time out to advance the ball to half court? Why not just let every possession begin at half court? It would increase scoring and make defenses more vulnerable. Maybe I shouldn't have even said that because it may be in next year's rules.

Maybe you can see where I am going with this piece by now. The NBA has made so many rule changes that it has altered it brand of basketball. High school and college basketball still resemble the game as it was meant to be played and should be played, after all it is a team sport. The NBA is made up of the best players in the world, well the best offensive players anyway. Let's make the game two facetted again with both offense and defense being part of the game, and then maybe I could watch again.